Nature of Power
by Story Weaver1
Summary: AU. What if the Hollow from the first episode was a little faster? What if Ichigo didn't become a shinigami that fateful night? What if Orihime did instead?
1. The Moment that Changed Everything

I am just SICK! of everyone saying how useless Orihime is. Ichigo would be pretty useless if he didn't have so many people helping him

- The Urahara Shop

-Yoruichi

-Zangestu

-Hantarou and Ganju

-Hichigo(his inner hollow)

-The Vizard

Who does Orihime have? Just her Shun Shun Rika and all they do is tell her the basics.

So I wondered: Would Ichigo truly be useless if he had unique powers like Orihime and would Orihime would be more useful if she had the shinigami powers?

Thus this fic was born

Disclaimer- I don't own Bleach. Kubo Tite does.

BTW-I'm not going to remake every episode/event OR make sure the dialogue is correct. I don't have that much free time. Besides, it would be different anyways with the new circumstances

One more thing-I don't want to hear anything about how Orihime doesn't know how to fight.

-Bleach Volume 14, Chapter 119. Tatsuki says Orihime can easily make first dan. Which I've heard means Black Belt.

Nature of Power

Chapter 1 The Momment That Changed Everything

This is the story of Orihme Inoue, fifteen years old. Other than escaping an abusive home with her brother twelve years ago, she has lead a pretty normal life. That is, untill she started seeing the souls of dearly departed. It all started after her brother died at the Kurosaki Clinc six years ago. She saw a little boy her age with the same orange hair. She vaguely recognized him from school but was too upset about her brother to think about it.

After that, she starred seeing fuzzy outlines when she walked to school and could feel a comforting presense at times. She liked to think it was her brother; still watching over her from beyond the grave. She tried to tell other people about this but no one believed her. Not even the best friend she made a year after her brother's death. Who could blame them? Orihime had a very active imagination that expressed itself from her day dreams to her cooking.

She spent a lot of time with Ichigo Kurosaki, the boy she saw at the Kurosaki clinic. He was the friend of her best friend, Tatsuki Arisawa, and all of them were in the same class. As the years passed and she stayed friends with Ichigo, she started seeing ghosts more clearly. This didn't frighten her; After all, her brother was a ghost, so why should she be scared of them? She was excited! It was fun talking to the ghosts.

Along with being able to see ghosts, she also developed another special ability-she could sense spiritual energy. If she concentrated hard enough, she would be able to, for instance, pinpoint where Ichigo was at any given time. Both of these abilites would lead her to the momment that changed her life forever.

"Orihime, are you listening?" Tatsuki asked.

"Wha..?" Orihime asked. The two of them were walking home from school and Tatsuki was talking about...something.

"I said how do you think you did on that history test?"

"Oh.... Well, I was able to study in the five minutes before the class started, so I should be just be fine."

"That's all the studying you did?"

"You should study more often, young lady." Said the ghost of an old woman, who had appeared at Orihime's side.

"I guess I should." Orihime said naturally.

"Orihime, who are you talking to?" Tatsuki asked.

"Mrs. Ghost," Orihime said, "She's standing right here." Orihime pointed to the ghost, who waved.

Tatsuki shook her head, "Orihime, you're not talking to ghosts. They don't exist."

"How rude." The old lady said with her hands on her hips. "Your friend needs to show more respect for her elders."

"But ," Orihime protested, "Tatsuki is _always_ respectful-except to Chizuru. I don't know why." Tatsuki just shook her head and the two girls talked about other things untill Orihime was home.

Much later, when she was an eating dinner, she felt two strange energies. They were like Ichigo but much different: One was wilder,and dangerous and the other was just different. _What if Ichigo is being attacked by aliens from another world and an intergalatic police force has come to his rescue?_With that thought she stood up and ran out the door. Something like this would be too exciting to miss.

Orihime was shocked. No, that was an understatement. Seeing Ichigo Kurosaki about to impale himself on a blade held by a strange looking girl, it blew her mind. And that was without adding the giant monster approaching them!

The monster lunged just as Ichigo pulled the sword into his stomach.

However

the monster closed the distance and swatted Ichigo through the clinic walls. Orihime cried out and the strange girl turned to her, startled.

"Can you see me?!"She asked urgently.

It was such a silly quesion, 'Can you see me?' but by the urgency of the girl's voice and eyes, Orihime knew it to be important. "Yes, I can."

"Do you want to save that boy?" she monster was advancing on Ichigo. If there was a way to save him, she wanted to hear it. She said as much, "Come here, quickly!" Orihime dashed to the strange girl and knelt by her. "Get me that sword!"

The sword in question was still in Ichigo's hands-his grip on the blade had been stronger than Rukia's on the hilt, and so it had been ripped from her grasp when the Hollow struck. Now, with the Hollow on top of Ichigo, it would be very difficult to get it without the Hollow noticing. Orihime shook her head and dashed to Ichigo, sliding under the Hollow and grabbing the swords's hilt. The Hollow noticed her instantly and roared. At once Orihime was slammed to the ground by a strong opressive force. She couldn't move! She felt a giant hand close around her and her heart went cold.

"Hadou 31! Red Flame Cannon!"

The Hollow roared in anguish and the hand was removed. Orihime clutched the sword to her chest and jumped to her feet. The Hollow's pain was too great for it to notice her as she ran back to the strange girl. The girl in the black hakama took the sword and looked Orihime in the eye.

"I will give you my power, but doing so could kill you." She said, "Knowing this, are you still resolved to save him?" By now, the Hollow had recovered from the kidou attack and returned its attention to Ichigo.

" I'll do it!" Orihime said eagerly. With great effort, the strange girl lifted her sword and pointed it at Orihime. "You must take my sword and plunge it into the center of your being. That is the only way for me to transfer my power." Orihime looked at the blade, and what she had to do. It looked so sharp, so deadly, and she had to impale herself with it. She could die, but on the other hand, Ichigo and this girl will die for sure if she didn't.

Orihime grabbed the blade and held it before her stomach.

"My name is Rukia. Rukia Kuchkiki." The strange girl said.

"I'm Orihime. Orihime Inoue." With that the blade plunged into her stomach and she felt a rush of power. There was a explosion and flash of light.

When the dusts cleared, the Hollow was short one arm. Orihime stood on top of the clinic, wearing the same old fashioned clothes as Rukia, and carring a large sword over her shoulder with one hand and Ichigo in the other.

It was a strange feeling. The sword looked as if it weighed a ton, but to Orihime it was as light as a feather. She could feel power radiating from it and from within her as well. With this power, she felt capable of anything!  
"Hold it!" She shouted at the Hollow. "You're not going to hurt Ichigo!" It turned to her with a puzzled expression before roaring at her. She put Ichigo down before holding her sword with both hands and jumping at the Hollow. It swiped at her with its remaining claw and she slashed it down the middle. Now armless, the Hollow backed away. Orihime crouched as she landed and sprung up once again. With a mighty yell she swung her sword down on the Hollow's mask. The mask shattered and the Hollow disentegerated. Orihime sheathed her sword and jumped back to the roof. There she retrieved Ichigo and laid him gently inside the clinic.

"There. You're safe, Ichigo."

Rukia stared in amazement. _I've never seen anyone with reiatsu so strange _She thought _Nor someone with such a large Zanpuktou. Just who is this girl?_


	2. The Work of a Shinigami

**Nature of Power Chapter 2 The Work of Shinigami**

Orihime awoke to the smell of pancakes, and eagerly opened her sleep ladened eyes. The strange girl from last night was hovering over her,a big grin on her face.

"Good morning." She said.

"AHHH!" Orihime jumped out of her blankets and landed with a thud across the floor.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I startle you?" The strange girl was holding pancakes. Orihime took a momment to clam down before replying.

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled...what are you doing here?"

"Making breakfast." the girl, said Rukia Kuchkiki Orihime remembered, said. She placed the panckes on Orihime's small table and sat down to eat. " Now that you have my power, there are a few things you should know."

"Like what?"

"First of all, what you turned into last night." Rukia said, "I am Shinigami from Soul Society. It is my duty to see that all souls pass on peacefully."

"Like a grim reaper?"Orihime asked. Her active imagination instantly produced a entire society of skeletons living in another world; buying black cloaks, among other colors, at department stores and jacking up their sycthes at smitheries, and having fun at food courts.

"Something like that,Minus the grim." Rukia replied. "You may call us _'Soul _Reapers' if you prefer. Come on, eat before they get cold.

"Oh right!" Orihime sat down across from Rukia and began eating as well. But she had to go to the kitchen for some tabsco sauce to make the pancakes especially tasty.

" There are two kinds of souls that Shinigami deal with," Rukia said between bites. She brought out a peice of paper and drew on it. Then she held it up for Orihime to see and pointed to the light and cheerful bunny, "Wholes are the souls of human beings right after they have passed on. It is the duty of the Shinigami to perform Konsol, or Soul Burial, so these souls may enter the Soul Society." Then she pointed to the dark and nasty bunny, "Then there are Hollows, these are what you fought last night. Hollows are monsters that feed on other souls and it is a Shinigami's duty to destroy them. Any questions?"

" Where'd you learn how to draw?" Orhime asked. Rukia tensed and was about to snap when Orhime continued, "the bunnies are so cute!"

"...Really?"

"Yes, I wish I was as good as you!"

"Well..." Rukia said happily, "it's nice to know _some_ people apperciate my drawings."

Orihime tilted her head and asked, "Who doesn't'?"

Rukia gasped at her slip and said, "Nothing! Just some other shinigami. Forget I said anything." Orihime shrugged.

"Now that you have taken my powers," Rukia said, "you must also taken on my duty as well."

Orihime stopped in mid bite, fork frozen in time between her plate and mouth, and she stared at Rukia in wonder,"You mean I'm..."

Rukia closed her eyes and declared, "Yes, you are now a-"

Orihime jumped to her feet and struck a dramatic pose, "A SUPERHERO!" A passing bus, containing a marching band, involuntarilly played a short dramatic piece.

Rukia sweatdropped, "...Yes...you could call it that." Orihime got back down and leaned close to Rukia, making the shinigami nervous and lean away.

"I already have the costume," Orihime said excitedly, "does that mean I get a secret identity too?!"

Rukia's sweatdrop got bigger as she continued leaning away, eventually she lost her center of balance and fell backwards.

"Well...no one but yours truly and hollows will be able to see you once you transform...so...yes, you have a secret identity."

Orihimed shouted and jumped for joy, "Cool! I gotta tell Tastuki!" But she calmed down once she actually thought about what she just said."...Wait... I _ can't_ tell Tastuki my secret identity, because then it wouldn't be _secret_ anymore!" She crossed her arms and pouted, "Having a secret identity isn't as much fun if you can't tell anyone, but if you _do_ tell someone it isn't secret anymore. It's such a cruel paradox!"

Rukia's sweatdrop got bigger yet and she began to have doubts about entrusting her jursidiction to this hyperactive girl. She sighed. There was nothing she could do now that she had lost almost all of her powers. Besides, it was only temporary. As soon as she recovered, she could erase the girl's memory and get back to work.

"When do I start?" Orihime asked. " I can't wait to protect the world from the scum of the spirit world!"

"You'll have to wait." Rukia said calmly, "untill a hollow appears. Untill then, go to school as you normally would."

"All right," Orihime said, a little dissapointed, "By the way, why are you wearing the school uniform?"

Rukia smiled, "I transfered into your school of course."

At school Orirhime introduced Rukia her friends. The shingami acted so differently than she had at her apartment that Orihime suspected her mind had been taken over...by the Pod People! Prompty she seperated Rukia from the others before they could become infected and TAKE OVER THE WORLD!

Rukia explained, quite clamly and rationally, that she was not: A.) a Pod Person, B.) a clone, or C.)being controlled by a remote puppet master. She was merely pretending to be a goody two-shoes to blend in. Her hand dived to her skirt pocket as her phone rang. She nodded to whatever was being said, put on a red glove that had a skull on the back palm,

"There's a hollow. Let's go." And palm striked Orihime's face. Or would have, if Orihime hadn't grabbed her hand and twisted it around her back.

It left Rukia completely baffled. The girl appeared to be a absolute airhead; how had she reacted so quickly?She coudln't even get out of the hold.

"What are you doing?" Rukia snapped.

"Sorry!"Orihime said and let go hastily. "I'm really sorry!" She bowed again and again in apology when Rukia turned around. "It was a reflex."

"You can tell me how you did that latter." Rukia said, "Right now you need to turn into a shinigami_ which is why I have this."_ Rukia said with a gesture to the glove.

"Oh..." Orihime scratched her neck in embarrasment, "I thought you were going to give me a henshin charm or a wand like in magical girl anime."

Rukia rubbed her forehead in annoyance... Then she remembered the Shinigami Represenative Badge, and felt bad herself. However, she did not have one and so it was a moot point.

Their target was a Hollow in a nearby park that was chasing the spirit of a young boy.

"Remember to aim for its mask." Rukia said on the way "Once the mask is gone the Hollow will follow." Orihime giggled at the rhyme.

"If the hollow will follow, then I should hurry and throttle!" She made up on the spot.

Rukia groaned, "Just kill it!"

By now they had arrived at the park and both spirit beings were in sight. Orihime drew her zanpuktou and nodded. Despite the severity of the situation, she had a smile on her face.Now was the perfect time to continune another superhero tradition!

Orihime blocked the Hollow's jaws just as it pounced on the helplesss soul "Not so fast, Monster!" She declared, "I, the Orange Reaper, will never allow you to harm the innocent!" She pushed it away and took up a fighting stance. Now she was glad she watched Tatsuki's kendo practice.

"Now, on behalf of souls everywhere, I shall punish you!" She dashed towards the Hollow and slashed its mask. It shrieked in pain and disentegerated.

The boy soul behind her backed away as she turned to him. She knelt before him and smiled warmly; the same smile her brother would give her when she was scared.

"Don't worry, little boy." She said soothingly, "I'm going to send you to a place where bad monsters like that will never hurt you again."

"...Really?" the boy asked. Orihime nodded...then tilted her head in confusion.

"Rukia, how do I do the 'Soul Burial' thing again?"

"Tap his forehead with the bottom of your hilt."

"Okay!" Orihime returned to the boy and turned her maternalness back on. "Soon you'll be in the Soul Society; a happy place where you can make friends, alright?" The boy smiled and nodded. Orihime stood up and reversed her zanpuktou, "This won't hurt a bit." She tapped the boy's forehead and he vanished into the ground.

"That was beautifully done." Rukia said "But what was this 'Orange Reaper'?"

Orihime smiled excitedly, "That's my superhero name!" Rukia sweatdropped.

"Let's just go back to school." She said and walked away.

Orihime was anxious to check on Ichigo. She hadn't had a chance to see him since the night before and wanted to know if he was alright.

"Course I'm okay." the scowling strawberry replied. "Though I don't blame you for asking, a car _did_ run into my family's clinic after all."

"Uhh.. Rukia, what's he talking about?" Rukia refused to answer utill they were out of school and and walking home. Only then did she tell Orihime about that she modified his memory so he wouldn't remember the Hollow or anything related to it.

"But he'll still be able to see you after you transform, so be careful." the shinigami said. "Watch out!" Rukia lounged to push her out of the way of a speeding car but something else had already done the work for her.

Someone had appeared out of nowhere, grabbed her leg and pulled her out of the truck's path. It was a red snake-like someone wearing a white mask.

"Hollow!"In an instant Orihime he become a shinigami and was charging after the retreating monster.

"Halt Monster!" Orihime cried. "Halt in the name of Justice!" She jumped and brought her sword down on its back. It spun around and grabbe her waist. In a momment she was pinned her to the ground.

"Orihime!" It cried. "Is that the thanks I get?!" Orihime gasped when heard its voice...

"Orihime!" Rukia's shouted jolted her back to reality and she stabbed her zanpuktou in the wrist around her waist. It roared in pain and clutched the wound

"Why Orihime?!" Then vanished into a dark portal.

"Are you all right?!" Rukia asked. Orihime got up in daze, which for her, wasn't all that unusuall really.

"Yeah...I'm fine..."

"Be more careful." Rukia scoled, " Untill I've recovered my strength, my kidou won't be strong enough to injury Hollows. I won't be able to help you." Orihime bowed in apology.

"All right, I will."

"There's nothing we can do untill it reappears, so we should just go home." Rukia said and walked away from Orihime.

"Ahh...Rukia...Where is your home?" Rukia paused but didn't turn around.

"Do you really want to know?"

"Oh yes! I do!" At this Rukia turned and smiled obnixiously

"Your place. If that's all-"

"Cool!" Orihime cried and began jumping again. "It'll be like a sleepover every night!" Once again Ruki sweatdropped at her substitute's behavior.

Later that night, when Tatsuki visisted Orihime's apartment to drop off some 'normal' food, she was treated to a surprise. A surprise half as tall as she was.

"Good eveing, Tatsuki." Rukia said. "I'm Rukia,Orihime's told me all about you. "

"Really? Like what?"

"Like how you taught me to disable an attacker."

"She said was it a 'reflex'."

"Yeah, those were some fun times," Tatsuki said with a smirk,"right Orihime?"

"Oh, yes..."Orihime said with a trying smile, "We would spent hours practicing untill you knew I had it. And then your mom would feed us cookies!"

"It took hours?" Rukia asked

"Yeah," Tatsuki said, and then softly, "I had to convince her to do it..."

"How come?"

"Oh...we were both busy all the time." Tatsuki said quickly, "I had to convince it was a good use of time."

"Yes..." Orihime said, staring at her lap, "That's it."

And then there was slience. Orihime and Tatsuki flashing back to the bullies that would troment Orihime when she was little and Rukia worrying what they were thinking about. She didn't have long to wonder. Her phone ringed and her eyes widended as she read the location. Throwing caution to the winds, she cried,

"Bakudo #1: Restrain!" And Tatsuki fell to the ground, unable to move.

"Rukia! What did you do?!" She demanded. Rukia ignored her, pulled on the red glove and pulled Orihime put of her body.

"But what about Tatsuki?" Orihime cried as Rukia pulled her by the hair, out of the house.

"We don't have time! A Hollow is approaching your friend's house!"

Orihime gasped, "Ichigo?!"

The Kurosaki Clinic was a battleground for the second time, though Ichigo didn't know this fact.

He had noticed the dark portal just in time to avoid the hand that came out of it. But once the body connected to the hand appeared, dodging became more difficult. He hated being on the defensive but none of his attacks appeared to harm the creature. That was when two girls appeared through his window. To his great confusion, and alarm

"Orihime...? Stay back! This thing's dangerous!" Orihime drew her zanpuktou and Rukia said,

"That's why we're here." she told Ichigo. The mask!" She yelled at Orihime.

"Right!" Oriohime said and reaffirmed her grip on the hilt. She swung her sword, but its voice from earlier rang in her ears and her resolve wavered. Just enough to weaken her strike from a killing bow, to a mere injury. Only a section of the Hollow's mask dissapeared.

"Too shallow. Why are you hesitating?!" Rukia demanded, but Orihime didn't hear her. She was frozen by the face under the section of broken mask. The hollow roared in pain and retreated through its dark portal. "Orihime!"Orihime was in shock.

Her eyes wide in horror and disblief. Her whole body shaking. Her Zankputkou fell from her limp hands and she fell to her knees.

"Orihime! What's wrong?" Ichigo asked, "What was that thing? Why are you dressed like..."he collasped and Rukia put her memory modifier away. Rukia knelt by Orihime and put a hand on her shoulder.

"What's wrong, Orihime?"

"That...h-h-hollow..."Orihime was sobbing now...".it...it looked my dead brother!" She turned on Rukia, desperate hope in her eyes. " Tell me that was an illuslion! A trick! Tell me that was not my brother!"

But Rukia said nothing. She just turned away from Orihime.

"No...No... NO!" Orihime cried and clutched her head. Her sobs had given way to tears and they soaked the collar of her robes.

"Hollows used to ordinary souls..." Rukia said softly, "no different than anyone else..."

"No...it can't be him! It just...can't be..."

"But if they hold onto feelings of resentment or regret, they linger in the human world.."Rukia continued,"..when that happens, they either turn into hollows of their own accord...or are devoured by other hollows and become one of the fold." Then her eyes turned hard and her voice became harsh, "The brother you knew doesn't exist anymore! He's just a monster now! It is your duty to destroy it!"

"But,...but...

"But nothing! It needs to be destroyed!"

"He protected me..."Orihime said through her sobs, "The car from earlier today...he protected me..." she faced Rukia with defiant eyes, "My brother is still in there! I won't kill him!"

"If it doesn't die, then many others will in its place!" Rukia shouted and Orihime's rebelion shrank. "What do you think your so-called brother would have done to Ichigo if we hadn't shown up?! He would've _eaten_ Ichigo. Without a single drop of regret or remorse, that hollow would have eaten Ichigo's soul. Many others will follow after him. Hollows are never satisfied."

Orihime tensed up, her hands as tight fists in her lap and her eyes glued to it. If she didn't kill her brother, Ichigo and countless others would die, but how could she kill her brother?! The one who raised her and cared for her and loved her when no one else would...was now trying to eat her friends.Suddenly, being the 'Orange Reaper' wasn't so fun anymore.

"You have a choice, Orihime," Rukia said, "between your living friends, and your dead and dangerous brother."

Though her face as stained with tears, Orihime grabbed her zanpuktou and stood up. In her excitment of becoming a superhero, she had forgotten the cardinal rule of superheores: With great power, comes great responsibility.

It was her duty to protect Wholes and destroy Hollows, regardless of who they were or what they've done. She couldn't pick and choose which to save or which to spare, it wasn't her call. She took a deep breathe, wiped her tears from her face and faced Rukia with new determination.

"Where is it?"

They had decided to bring Ichigo with them, incase the hollow returned. Tatsuki was still at Orihme's house and Rukia feared that the hollow would attack her next. If Orihime recognized the hollow, than the hollow would recognize her. It might go after those important to her; Ichigo was first, Tatsuki may be next. Besides, Orihime had expressd discomfort at being in a boy's bedroom, with the boy in it, at night.

They put Ichigo down on the floor, next to Tatsuki-who was still struggling against the Bakudo Rukia put on her. She again demanded what was going on, and Rukia answered with the memory modifier.

Sora slithered out of the floor and wrapped Orihime in his coils, pinning her arms down. Rukia launched into a kidou chant and was backhanded into the aparment wall.

"Don't interfer!"Sora shouted. "This is between family!"

"Big brother!"Orihime shouted, struggling in his grip, "Why are you doing this?! You used to be so gentle!"

" I was so lonely..." Sora said and his red eyes took a somewhat softer hue, "you were beginning to forget about me, sister, a little more each day. After I died, you prayed for me every day, I watched you. It was your prayers and your thoughts that gave me peace, it relieved me of my loneliness." then his eyes became blood red once again and look with hate at the unconscious black haired girl on the floor.

"But after a year had gone by, things changed, you became friends with that girl!" He grabbed Tatsuki and squeeezed her in his hand. Orihime gasped and struggled harder.

"Leave Tatsuki alone!" She shouted, but if Sora heard her, he didn't care

"And then I saw that you began to pray for me less and less. Then when you entered high school, you stopped praying for me completley... That's why...I was so lonely

"Sora you don't understand! In reponse,Sora tightened his coils, making Orihime cry in pain.

"Just listen to me! Orhime! If you have even a shred of love left for me, you will NOT betray me again! Do exactly as I say!" Orihime smiled and stopped struggling, Sora took this as a sign of her agreement. "Good...now I will finish off these two and we can live together, just like... before?" The last word came out a question, because he had discovered the reason behind Orihime's smile.

With one hand facing Sora, Orihime shouted, "Bakudo #1: Restrain!" The coils let go of her and tied themselves in knots while Sora's hands were forced behind him.

Orihime slashed at the wrist holding her friend and cut it clean off. While Sora clutched the stump, Orihime put Tatsuki safely behind her. "What your doing is wrong, brother! I have to stop you."

"Shut up Orhime!" Sora shouted, and pulled at the bakudo, "Don't tell me what's right or wrong when its YOUR fault I became this monster! Perhaps I should kill you first for the way you've abandoned me! Choosing Ichigo and this girl over _my memory!_ I'LL KILL YOU!" The bakudo snapped and He reached for her with his remaing hand.

Orihime side-steped and cut this hand off too. Sora howled in greater pain and shrunk away from Orihime.

"Why are you doing this, Orihime?! I was the one who raised you! You're mine!"

"You're not the Sora I knew!" Orihime shouted, "Not the Sora who..."her hand drifted to the blue pins her in hair. For just a momment, the red light of Sora's eyes dissapeared entirely.

"Orihime.." he said with his human voice, "..you still wear the hairpins I gave you?" But before Orihime could answer, Sora's inner hollow took over once again and the red eyes returned. "I don't care! You're mine!" He lunged for her, but with his tail in a knot, all he could do was make a ungraceful hop. He may have destroyed the sealing art, but he had yet to untangle what it did.

"Big Brother, I wear them every day. I've never stopped thinking about you!Ever!" Orihime walked to the crippled Hollow, right up to his chest, dropped her sword, hugged him,"This is all my fault, the reason you're this way is because of me. Because I begged you not to leave me alone.That's why..." Tears streaked down her cheeks despite her efforts to stop them,"you weren't able to find peace and its all my fault." Sora didn't move. Granted, there wasn't much more he _could_ move anymore, but he didn't try to hit her with his stumps.

"Oh...Orhime..."

"Ever since you died, I always had the sense that you were watching over me, because I'd asked you to, even yesterday.Then one day I realized that if I kept depending on you to stay by my side, then you'd never be able to rest in peace."

"But if I showed you, that my life was really happy, and that you didn't need to worry about me anymore,you could pas on. I never dreamed it could make you sad and lonely. I would never want to do that to you, brother!"Sora roared and thrashed in place, but Orihime kept her grip firm around his neck. His hollow mask flashed like a lightbulb going out.

"The part of him that's still human is fighting against the hollow."Rukia said to herself. She had never seen a hollow mask simply dissapeared and the Hollow itself remain.

"Evidently this one didn't become a hollow by choice, he must have been taken over...A soul that is converted by a strong hollow can be manipulated by that hollow." It was just as she thought. This hollow didn't attack Ichigo out of resentment or jealousy...not if it was turned by another, stronger hollow...and if she put it together with the hollow that attacked Ichigo before...

"It wanted his spiritual energy, so it took over this poor soul in order to attack you!" She shouted to Oirhime, "It hopped that since you knew this soul in life, you would hesitate to fight him which, in fact, you did. Right now, your brother's soul is desperately fighthing that hollow, for his sister's sake."

"ARRGGH! ORIHIME!..." With a final push, the mask shattered, and it was truly Sora who stood in Orihime's arm.

"Brother!" She said estastically, "It's really you!" Sora did his best to hug her in return with his stumps.

"Orihime, will you do one last thing for me?" Orhime pulled away slightly and, with weariness in her eyes, said,

"What?"

"Kill me."

"What?!" Orihime hugged as hard as she could and buried her face in her brother's chest. "But brother! You're back to normal now! You don't have to die! You can stay with me! No one will be able to see you but me and Rukia! It'll be fun!"

"I would love to live with you again, little sister, but I only have a short time before the hollow takes over and changes me back into a monster." He pulled back and looked her in the eyes, "I want you to end this, before I hurt you again."

Orihime turned to her partner and shouted,"Rukia! You can do something, right?!"  
"No Orihime... He's made the right decision. Once you become a hollow, you can never go back to what you were before. Passing is the best thing for him."

"But!"

"It's oaky Orihime. You'll soon learn that exorcising a hollow, is not the same thing as killing it. You're cleansing its soul and allowing it to enter the Soul Society. That's why Soul Repers exist in the first place: To help _all_ souls pass on and find peace."

"Big Brother, can you hold on? For just a little longer?" Sora nodded and Orihime began,

"Remember the fight we had about these hairpins?" Sora nodded a second time, a sad/happy look in his eyes, "I said I didn't like them becaue I didn't think they was grown up enough for me. I know it hurt your feelings, and you left without saying anything else, and that was the last time I saw you alive." Her eyes began to mist up again, "So now I want to say what I shoud have said to when you went off to work that day. Bye brother, have a good day."

"Thanks, sister." He smile at her, just like he did every day in the past, with love for his baby sister. Then his smile became contorted with pain, "Do it now! Its comming back!" Even as he spoke, the mask was reforming around his face.

Orihime blinked away tears, picked up her zanpuktou and fulfilled her duty as a shinigami.

"Orihime!" a number of her friends shouted at school the next day, "We heard there was an explosion at your apartment last night! Are you okay?"

"Oh sure." She said and waved away their concern, "It was just a demon from another world that wanted to eat my soul." Then she struck a dramatic pose, "But I transformed into a god of death and defeated it in an epic battle!" Her friends chuckled at this tall tail of hers.

"Oh Orihime!" Chizuru spouted, "Your imagination is so cute it makes me want to kiss you!" She pounced and was backfisted by Tatsuki.

"It was really a leak in the gas pipes under her apartment." the random students nodded. That was _much_ more likely to be true. Which was exactly Orihime had counted on.She smiled privately when everyone laughed at her story. Her secret identity was safe, because no one would believe her even if she told them.

But being a shinigami wasn't going to be fun. Helping the souls of the dead find peace was a serious bussiness and from now on she was going to take it seriously. She would start by asking Tatsuki to teach her kendo.


	3. Justice

(blows dust off fic and coughs) As it really been...(checks) _11 months?!_ My, how times flies. I've been busy with other writings, non-fanfiction writings, so I guess I forgot about this fic.

Dedicated to Nessa, who has reviewed twice since the haitsu began, for letting me know at least one person is still reading this.

****

Chapter 3 Justice

Orihime now remembered why she pleaded to stop the hand-to-hand training. Tatsuki had readily agreed to teach her kendo, but she hadn't thought her friend would be so... enthustiastic. With a number of bruises, she stiffly walked to school the next day

"Cheer up," Rukia said, "You still have something to look forward to."

"I do?" Orihime asked.

"Yes," the shinigami smirked evilly, "the second day is the hardest."

Orihime groaned.

But she would endure. The skills and experience she gained from Tatsuki would make her a better shinigami and that would make everyone in Kanakura town safer. Such a goal was worthy of soreness and bruising. After all, being a superhero isn't all fun, games and secret identities-its work.

Orihime felt hands on her back and then a soothing warmth spread through her body. It eased her pains and she sighed. She still felt stiff but just the bruises vanishing were an immense relief.

"There," Rukia said and removed her hands, "Since you're new at this, I took care of your bruises with my kidou."

"Wow, you're really good!"

"Of course. I got the best grades in my class."

"You mean there's a school for Grim Reapers?!" Before the words had even left her mouth, Orihime had imagined a high school, shaped like a skull, where black cloaked skeletons learned the art of Scythe craft and magic and comforting dead souls.

"Do I _look_ like a skeleton to you?!" Rukia snapped.

"Sorry! Sorry." Orihime said and bowed.

"Ehh... Forget it."

They passed Chad in the school hallway and Rukia paused. Orihime was about to ask her new friend what bothered her, but she sensed it herself a moment later. The bird in the cage Chad carried, wasn't a normal bird.

"Who is that?" Rukia asked.

"Oh him?....hmm..." Orihime put a finger to her chin and tilted her head. She looked rather cute like that; so cute Tatsuki had to backfist Chizuru. Both came out of nowhere and were unnoticed by Orihime. "Oh I remember! That's Sado Yasutora, but everyone calls him Chad."

They followed him to the roof, where he talked about the bid with Keigo, Mizuru and.....Ichigo. Orihime's cheeks turned slightly pink when she saw him.

"WHAT?! _TWO_ LOVELY LADIES?!" Keigo shouted in joy." LET'S PARTY!"

All sweatdropped.

"What do you think?" Orihime asked Rukia. "It doesn't look like a hollow."

"True, and I don't sense any evil from it." Rukia said, "Tonight, we'll perform the konsol."

"Right! Orange Reaper to the rescue!"

"......You're still going on about that?" Rukia asked.

After school, Orihime stood across from Tatsuki in a local dojo, decked out in safety gear. The bokken felt a lot a different than her zanpakuto. Rukia explained earlier that because her zanpakuto was merely a solid form of her spirit, it would weight next to nothing. To Orihime, it was more than that; the bokken was for training and the zanpakuto was for fighting evil. Personally, she thought the bokken felt lighter.

Regardless of the sword, the training was exhausting. Orihime's breath came in gasps, and her hair was matted against her head with sweat. Her bruises from earlier resurfaced and her limbs were still sore and stiff. The second day was indeed harder.

"That's enough for today, Orihime." Tatsuki said and lowered her bokken.

"That's all right. I can go on."

"Okay, what's the problem?"

"Th-there's no problem..." Orihime said evasively.

"Yes there is." Tatsuki said with a knowing grin. " She walked over to Orihime and removed her helmet. "You've never been this determined to learn how to fight." Her expression suddenly became fierce. The look of a hunter with a lead on prey. "Is someone bullying you again?!"

"No! No one! Everything's fine!" Orihime said in a flurry.

"Its okay, Orihime," Tatsuki comfortingly. " Just tell me their name, and I'll make sure they _stop_." She pounded her fists together.

"Really! There's no one bullying me!" Orihime insisted. "I'm just....really interested in this sport... and since you like it so much, so I thought it would be a good way for us to spend time together."

Tatsuki sighed; Orihime was going all 'noble self-sacrifice' again. It was an endearing trait, but at the same time, it was very annoying. You'd try to help her, and she would insist she didn't need it because she didn't want to trouble you. Tatsuki knew where _that_ road would lead; it was the same road she took before Tatsuki met her. The only destination was torment and forcibly short hair. Tatsuki would not allow that to happen again.

"Orihime, we're best friends right?"

"Of course! Best friends forever."

"Then why won't you tell me the truth?"

Orihime looked down guiltly, "Its.....complicated."

Rukia told her that no one could know about Soul Society, Shinigami, and most especially not Hollows. 'We live in awe of that which can not be seen. And we respect with ever fiber of our being that which can not be explained.' Is what Rukia had said earlier. Orihime didn't really understand that, so Rukia explained another way.

If the general public knew that soul devouring monsters, that they couldn't defeat _or _see, were walking around their neighborhoods, it would cause mass hysteria and panic. People might become afraid of their own shadows. No one would feel safe in their homes anymore. The resulting fear would build until it burst and there would be a lot more souls for shinigami to guide and easy pickings for hollows.

Then there was the paranoia that could result from knowledge of those shinigami. Despite the fact that shinigami existed solely to protect wholes from hollows, the fact they were invisible and strong enough to defeat hollows would inspire fear. They might think certain people were shinigami in gigais, which might lead to those people getting killed in an attempt to force out the shinigami. Normal people might go looking for hollows in order to see shinigami. Yet more lives lost and more souls eaten.

It was much better for Soul Society that no one knew about the shinigami or hollows. However, none of this helped Orihime, as she tried to wiggle out of the question posed by her best friend.

"If I tell you, you'll get hurt!" She said at last.

"Orihime," Tatsuki said, amused, "are you pretending to be a superhero?" Orihime gasped

"Wh-what makes you say that?"

"All right," Tatsuki took up her wooden sword once more, "we'll continue practicing."

"Thanks, Tatsuki!"

The sun had gone down by the time Orihime and Rukia returned home. The orangette was starting to get used to the shinigami following her around. It was like having a tiny little sister. Orihime liked this thought, even though Rukia was so much older than she. Her daydreams of braiding each other's hair were interrupted by a loud crash.

Both girls hurried to the source and found several cars had bashed together, as well as a large dark figure disappearing into the shadows. Before they could investigate, they noticed something horrible at the scene of the accident. Chad was unconscious and had a enormous burn on his back in the shape of a foot. His talking bird was right next to him. A medical crew was already loading him into a truck, so all the pair could do was follow it.

"Rukia that wound-" Orihime said as they dashed down the street.

"I know," Rukia replied, "it reeks of a hollow."

They followed the truck to the Kurosaki clinic. Orihime's reaction was to color slightly at the through of seeing Ichigo again, but Rukia was more intrigued. This Ichigo kid was involved with nearly every hollow sighting since she arrived. Was it simply his unusual amount of reiatsu, or something else?

"We don't have the room!" Isshin Kurosaki yelled into a phone, "We're just a small clinic!"

"Ummm..?" Orihime asked.

"Yeah, what is it?" Isshin asked,

"We're looking for a friend of ours, Sado Yatsutora."

"Who?"

"The giant your nurses are trying to hold up." Rukia said.

"What giant-" Isshin said as he turned to see Karin and Yuzu struggling under Chad's weight. "Whoa! This guy's huge! And that burn!" He rushed to help his daughters, and carried him off to the treatment center. "Come back tomorrow."

"But!" Orihime protested.

"Don't worry, he won't be going anywhere for at least that long."

Orihime would have snuck around him in shinigami mode, but Ichigo would still be able to see her and then there was his little sister. She seemed to have a reaction to the talking bird too. There was nothing for it, so the girls went home.

On the way, Rukia explained why they couldn't go after the hollow that seemed to be following Chad around. With another one of her drawings, she showed Orihime the special space hollows where could hide when they weren't hunting souls.

"Do you understand?"

"Those bears are so cute!" Orihime replied. Rukia gave her a annoyed look, and Orihime calmed down. " Yes, I understand, we can't attack the hollow until it attacks Chad. But what if we don't make it in time?"

"That is a daily problem for all shinigami," Rukia said severely, "you are no different."

Orihime slumped and sulked, "I know....."

"We'll simply perform the konsol tomorrow when we visit Chad."

Chad wasn't there the next day.

Isshin said he had disappeared during the night and Ichigo was already looking for him. From where Rukia stood, this situation had gone from bad to worse. Now _two_ civilian souls were involved with this hollow and one of them had a large amount of reiatsu.

"Now we have to find _both_ of them!" Rukia fumed as they left the clinc. "And before the hollow does."

"I can do it! No problem!" Orihime boasted.

She closed her eyes and focused on the soul. She'd been able to detect souls for a while now, even if they were a great distance away. If she tried hard enough, she should be able to locate him now. An orange aura appeared around her and little orange lights surrounded her. Rukia stared in amazement, and to her increasing shock, strips of white paper appeared around her substitute. Orihime smiled and grabbed one of them.

"There he is!" and she followed after it.

'Visualized spirit energy, ' Rukia thought as she followed the substitute shinigami, 'Only high level shinigami.....Is her power developing _that_ quickly?!'

On their way they saw Ichigo running toward them, carrying his feverish little sister. They ducked down another street to avoid being seen. Once Ichigo had passed, Rukia prepared to run again, but Orihime was standing shock still.

'Please don't tell me she's stunned from the sight of her crush.........'

The spirit ribbons again surrounded Orihime and she spent several moments looking through them. Feeling around and searching for the right one. At last, she smiled and grabbed one.

"Why did you need to us Spirit ribbons again?" Rukia asked

"Well...." Orihime began, pink cheeked, "I was looking for Ichigo before...I thought it would be easier to find him than the bird soul."

"I hope the reason was his large reiatsu," Rukia said chin high, eyes closed, "Rather than your crush on him."

"Yes of course! That was it!" Orihime said, far too quickly.

"Stay focused! Chad's right up ahead!"

The mountain of a human was running within sight, and around his chest the girls could see the borders of the bird cage. Rukia was about to call after him, when Orihime screamed in surprise and pain. She went down with several slimy frog-like creatures all over her back and legs. The substitute shinigami was caught between being grossed out by the slime and scared of the creatures restraining her. Her breath caught in her throat when felt the presence on top of her.

"You smell _very_ nice!" The hollow said, "and all this struggling, you look so scared!." it made a delighted whine, "I can't stand it!" Shrieker dove to devour the helpless shinigami, and was repelled by a ferocious kick. "You can see me?" he asked, confused. Then he sniffed, "You smell nice too. Which should I eat first?" He looked from Orihime who was still struggling against his minions, to Rukia who was about to kick him again. He plucked her out of the air. "You first then."

Something very large and very fast slammed into his chin, forcing him to release Rukia. Shrieker looked in surprise at the human who caught his prey, then he snickered when the human began punching thin air. 'Lucky punch, he can't see m-' Shrieker skidded a good four feet when Chad landed another blow.

Growling, he took flight and spat more frog creatures at Chad. Unable to see them, Chad stood stationary and punched the space several feet below his target. He would have been nailed, if a large sword hadn't appeared to shield him. Orihime looked with distaste at the slime and leech-like things on her blade.

. 'Even in this weakened state,' Rukia thought, 'I'd be ashamed of myself if I couldn't handle those imps'

"You've caused enough trouble, foul monster!" Orihime declared, "Now the Orange Reaper of justice shall punish you!"

Shrieker rolled his eyes and rung his tongue.

The explosions startled Orihime and she lost her grip on her sword. Shrieker saw his opening and took it. Like a falcon diving on prey, he swooped to devour her once again. However, Orihime ducked at the last moment to grab her zanpakuto and Shrieker flew straight into Chad, who was still punching thin air.

Rukia sweatdropped.

"Did I hit it?" Chad asked.

"Thanks Chad!" Orihime said,

"He can't hear you." Rukia said,

"What can't I hear?" Chad asked.

"Nothing!" Rukia shouted, this was getting frustrating, "Kill it, Ori-Substitute!"

"Why are you using 'ore'?" Chad asked.

Rukia's scream of frustration was lost in that of the hollow's. It revealed that it had surrounded the bird's cage with his frog creatures and would blow it up if any of them moved. Then he told Orihime to drop her zanpakuto and start running. He sensed an especially unique reiatsu coming from her; one that was fresh and juicy. He wanted a hunt to whet his appetite.

Orihime looked from the hollow, to the captive bird, and then to Rukia. She nodded. The zanpakuto clattered on the ground once again, and Orihime took off. Shrieker and all his minions swiftly followed.

Through the streets of Kanakura town, Orihime ran as fast as she could. Shrieker directed two teams of creatures to run along the hedges and outflank the substitute shinigami. Leeches came from three directions at once; Orihime's blood-curling scream went unheard by all by her tormentor.

Now wincing and in great pain, she got to her feet before another leech could find her.

She did her best to keep track of all her enemies, and spotted one hiding behind a corner. She ducked under its spray but didn't notice the one behind her. Shrieker rung and Orihime screamed.

"What's wrong, little miss Death god?" Shrieker jeered, "Go ahead and counterattack! I'll let you!" Another barrage, another ring and another scream. "Show me some of that flashy Shinigami magic!" He laughed, knowing that she didn't have any.

Finally, Orihime slumped against a wall, panting and grasping her arm. The last batch of leeches had swarmed around her arm and it burned with pain. She looked up at Shrieker and glared.

"Oh that blood-stained look! Those defiant eyes!" Shrieker laughed again, "I love it!"

"I'll defeat you yet....Evil Monster!" Orihime said, "Justice will prevail!"

Shrieker laughed, "That's what the brat's mother said, right before I killed her!" Orihime gasped, "That's right, that bird is the brat of my last victim when I was alive. Now she's wandering around a helpless whole, while I am a powerful hollow. Is there justice in _that_, lame-ass death god?"

Orihime smirked, "Justice can hit you when you least expect it!"

Shrieker leaned closer to Orihime and she coughed from his putrid breath. Then he did a face-plant as a foot stomped on his head. A second orange haired teen was now standing on his back.

"Ichigo!" Orihime cried happily.

"Orihime, what are you doing here?"

"Oh! I'm....ahh....I'm going to a cosplay con!" She said, and went into vivid detail about the events and food and all the other aspects she could make up on the spot.

"Get OFF MEEEEE!" Shrieker roared and stood up. Ichigo jumped off and landed between him and Orihime.

"I'll take care of this, Orihime," Ichigo said over his shoulder, "You should get out of here."

Orihime didn't want to abandon her friend to a fight he couldn't win, but without her zanpakuto, there was little she could do. She hated feeling useless! Because she couldn't take care of herself, her brother stayed in the human world. Because of his love for her, he was turned into a monster. Now Ichigo was doomed because she couldn't do her job properly! 'What good are kendo lessons if I don't have a sword?!'

The zanpakuto Chad was dragging began to glow. Suddenly it became lighter and brighter and pulled him down the street, toward its wielder.

Shrieker allowed Ichigo to attack while his creatures moved into position. Before Orihime could warn him, they spat leeches on his back. She watched helplessly as they exploded. Shrieker cackled and kicked Ichigo in the stomach. Orihime caught him mid flight. Eyes watering, she held him against her chest.

"Mr. Human Hero came to save the damsel, and now he's about to die." Shrieker tore Ichigo from Orihime's arms, "Still think justice will punish me?"

Orihime looked down at the ground, unable to face Ichigo. One more person was going to be devoured because of her. Hands became tight fists at her sides. For all her talk of becoming the Orange Reaper, a super hero, she hadn't changed much. She still couldn't help those that needed it.

"No," Orihime said, "I will punish you myself!" her hands glowed with orange light and it consolidated into her zanpakuto. "Me! Orihime Inoue, Substitute Shinigami!"

She jumped into the air, sword held high. Shrieker held Ichigo as a shield and made him scream in pain. Orihime pushed off that fist and impaled the hollow's mask.

A pillar of green light burst from the split mask and reached high into the sky. Around it formed a great and terrible double door. Two giant skeletons stood on its blood red surface, and before the many locks keeping it shut. The green light opened these locks and the dread doors opened wide onto a fiery dimension. Shrieker's mask disintegrated as he was pulled in. The doors slowly slide close and ground to a stop. Then they began to crack. With a burst, they shattered and were gone. Only Ichigo remained, laying on the street.

Orihime stared in utter horror, "Wh-what was that?"

"The Gates of Hell." Rukia replied, "The zanpuktou can only washed away sins comitted _after_ death. Your brother is in Soul Society right now, but hollows that comitted mortal crimes while alive go directly to Hell."

The bird, Yuuichi, apologized to Chad for causing him so much trouble. He told them his story; the death of his mother and his deal with the hollow. Orihime assured him he that would see his mother again soon and then, with a tap of her hilt, she sent him to her.

Next update will come out much sooner than this one, promise!

1. The 'ori' and 'ore' thing. In japanese, 'ore' is how a guy refers to himself, that's why Chad was confused when he thoguth Rukia used it. Just a little attempt at language humor.


	4. Every Hero Needs a Sidekick

Chapter 4 Every Hero needs a sidekick

There weren't any waffles cooking when Orohime woke up. She looked around, but didn't see her tiny little sister anywhere. She did notice that Rukia's blankets had been fololded up as well as her pajamas. Her school uniform was gone. Either Rukia had woken up early and left without her, or the kidnapper was very polite.

In a small shop in a obscure part of town, bussiness was being done. A man wearing a hat and clogs sat on a ledge and advised his current costumer about the risks of a particular product. The costumer agreed and flexed her hands. They twisted awkwardly and she complained about a bad connection.

"We're closed!" Jinta yelled from outside. "Go away!"

"Jinta-kun," Ururu said softly, "please don't be mean to the customers."

"Shut up! You're not the boss of me!"

"Please, don't fight on my account!" A third voice begged, "I just want to see if my sisiter is here."

Rukia sweatdropped, face in her hands.

", I didn't know you had another sister." Urahara said.

"Its....complicated." She said at last.

Orihime stepped through the front screen door and smiled when she saw Rukia. Then she scolded her for leaving home without a note. Rukia's sweatdrop grew bigger as Orohime waggled her finger, and talk about how the smaller girl neded her onee-chan to protect her. Urahara drew out his fan to hide his chuckles. Its wasn't good for bussiness to laugh at one's best customer.

".......how'd you find me?" Rukia asked when the adorable scolding ended.

"I followed your soul ribbon." Orihime replied, and tilted her head. "Are red ribbons special? I only noticed a couple of them in this entire town, and three of them came from this shop."

The Urahara shop employees stiffened.

"Its okay," Rukia said, "She's my substitute."

After the explaination about red and white spirit ribbons-and the obligatory bunny pictures-Orihime asked to meet the other shinigami and learn kidou from them.

"They're busy at the momment," Urahara said from underneath his hat, "conducting important bussiness. Isn't that right, Mis. Kuckiki?"

Rukia nodded, " Do you have my special order?"

Urahara told Ururu to bring it out, and Orihime went with her. By the time they found the box, they became good friends. A 'new item' label was clearly seen on the top, but they missed the 'inferior' label on the other side. Rukia was inritated at the model, but Urahara insisted that it was second most popular and as such, very hard to find. Orihime thought the duck was cute even though Rukai sulked over not having the rabbit.

"It says 'soul candy',"Orhime said, "Is it sweet?"

"Yes, but that's not the point." Rukia said, " Its actually gikogan, or artifical souls, but the Shinigami Women's Assiociation complained that-"

Orihime swallowed one, and felt a little spark as it went down. Suddenly, she was looking at herself sprawled out on the floor. When she couldn't get back in, she panicked and ran around in circles. Rukia, through grated teeth, explained how gikongan worked. By the time she was finished, Orihime's body stood up and saluted her.

"Hello and good afternoon," The substiture soul said with a bland smile, "I'm Orihime Inoue. Early to bed, early to rise, that's what I always say."

"My brother used to say that to!" Orihime said, amazed, "This is definitely going to work!"

"Good timing" Rukisa said when her phone rang, "We have a mission."

"Be sure to go to my class!"Orihime said to her own substitute as she ran out, "Freshmen Class 3!"

"Oh, don't worry master!" I'll be sure to!"The gikongan then smirked maliciously, and looked down at their new body.

The mission was a a bridge slightly out of town. Shinigami Orihime charged her newest foe with the instrument of its destruction and purification flowing behind her. When the hollown struck, Orihime was delighed to find that not only was dodging easy, but she saw the blow coming. 'My training is paying off!' she thought excitedly.

She skipped back to school.

When Orihime arrived at the classroom, she wasn't there. She looked in the window but couldn't see herself anywhere. She even checked the hallway, in case she got herself in trouble.

"Imouto, where am I?"

"The _gikogan_," Rukia began, "Either never arrived, or left."

Chizuru was sitting hapazardly in her seat, a dreamy expression on her face. Tatsuki on the other hand, stared off into space utterly completely confused. Ichigo stood up and, ignoring the teacher, left his seat and the room.

"Orihime, what's going on?" he asked the substitute Shinigami, "And why are you still in that cosplay?" Before Orihime could say a word, Rukai pulled out her memory modfiier.

"What you think you saw, you did not see." Rukia said, and Orihime giggled. "Believe me, its for your own protection." Orihime's giggles increased. "What's so funny?"

"Oh nothing....G.I.B." Orihime said, and broke out into another fit of giggles.

"What are you-Hey! Give that back!" Rukia jumped for her memory modifier, but Ichigo held it far above her reach.

"What is this thing? And you still haven't answered my question."

Rukia finally gave up jumping and said, "First tell us why Orihime isn't in class right now."

"Huh? That's what I'm asking you."

"I was supposed to be in class up till now, Ichigo," Orihime said shyly, "but I'm not there."

"Well yeah, you're in the hallway."

"No, she means her body!" Rukai said. Why was dealing with mortals so frustrating?!

"Her....body?"

Rukia groaned and rubbed her forehead. Then she began the lengthy process of explaining to the mortal exactly why Orihime wasn't in class at momment, in any sense of the phrase. The boy took it all in stride, as if it shinigami and hollows were nothing new.

His only question was about her artistic talent.

"Someone that looked like Orihime came to class, but I could tell it wasn't her. " Ichigo said, then flushed. "They...ah...came on to Chizuru and.....uh...." Orihime was rapidly turning the same shade of red. Ichigo's broken sentence was all her imagination needed to create a wild scene easily more embarrasing than reality. "What was that thing?"

Rukia explained the basics of the Spearhead Project while the trio searched. Ichigo refused to be left behind, especially when he had a suspicion that the 'tiny little nutjob' was still hiding something from him. Orihime was happy for this turn of events, until she remembered what normally happened to the super hero's love interest. Her face burned, thinking of Ichigo as such.

When Rukia finished her explaination, all thoughts of crushes dissapeared. Her heart went out to the poor, tragic, tormented soul. The one that was taking her body for a joy ride all over Kanakura town.

The trio finally found him about to attack a group of kids outside a school. Ichigo tried to capture him by holding Orihime's body's arm behind her back, and was rewarded with a swift and punishing kick. He let go and stumbled backwards, clutching his own leg.

"What are you thinking?!" Rukia demanded, "I _told_ you it was a special combat soul!"

"Well yeah but-" Ichigo was slightly red, from anger or embarrasement, "But I can't hit Orihime's body!"

Orihime smiled happily at the sentiment It was rather chivalric in her mnind; Ichgio risking personally injury to avoid harming her body, even when she wasn't in it. That lead to the idea of Ichigo as her own personal knight and a daydream of him rescuing her from a dragon; one wearing a hollow mask of course. He would be the black kimono shinigami and she the white dress princess. For some reason there was a rider on the dragon; one with markings on his face reminsient of a tear.

"Its getting away!" Rukai shrieked mid stride.

Orihime shook her head and chased after the rogue mod soul. Their search was intrupted by a hollow alert from Rukia's cell phone. They found the hollow back at the school and it was tearing into their target.

"Hey! That's not your body!" Ichigo shouted.

He then got into a heated arguement with the mod soul, and both ignored the lunging hollow. Without breaking stride, they both kicked its mask. They continued arguing while the hollow fell off the roof. Even when it shook the ground with its collapse, the twins continued to talk about the stupidity of harming Orihime's body, the foolishness of Soul Society, and various philosophies of killing.

Orihime sweatdropped. Rukia groaned.

"Just kill it, will you?" the former asked.

Orihime dropped down on the hollow before it could recover and slashed its mask.

Urahara and his employees appeared on the roof. Ignoring Ichigo, Urahara marched straight to Orihime's body. Before the mod soul could react, Urahara dislodged it with his tip of his cane. Rukia took it from him before he could destroy it. Claiming she was satsified with the product she bought, she gave it to Orihime.

"Who are these guys?!" Ichigo demanded.

Again ignoring the irriate mortal, Urahara turned to Rukia,"Ms. Kuikchi do you have _two_ substitutes now? Or does your memory modifier need repair?"

Rukia glared at him.

The new trio walked back together. Orihime winced periodically as her shoulder pain flared up. Still angry, Ichigo found a stuffed animal on the side of the road and inserted the mod soul pill into its mouth. Then he continued shouting at it. The main topic was how stupid the soul was for injuring Orihime's body. The shinigami was flattered, and Rukia thought it was annoying.

"Why do you keep calling me, Kon?" The mod soul demanded. "It sounds stupid!"

"Then its a good name for you." Ichigo said, "Besides, 'Kaizo konpaku' is too long to say."

"Then call me 'Kai', that sounds a lot cooler!"

"That's why we're not calling you that!"

"You do realize you're yelling at a stuffed animal," Rukia asked, "Right?"

It was at that precise momment that Ichigo noticed the random peopled starring at him. Some were chuckling, others shaking their heads, and one particularly mischevious child took his picture with her phone. Ichigo burned with embarrasment. Kon laughed and was promptly punched.

"I think Kon is a cute name." Orihime said, "and a super hero's mascot has to be cute!" She pointed dramatically at Kon, but only managed to make herself look silly, "Its a rule! Just like how sidekicks have to have similar but lesser power than their hero and mentors have to be mysterious!"

"What is she talking about?" Ichigo asked.

The other two shrugged.


	5. Two Swords

Narture of Power

Chapter 5 Two Swords

When Orihme awoke the next morning, she found a stuffed animal under her blanket and wedged in her bosom. Sleepily, she hugged it closer. Her grip was so intense Kon's soul pill almost popped out. Immediately after he he escaped the D-cup vice he was stepped on by Rukia. He made a comment about a nice angle and was properly stomped.

Rukia had gotten up early so she could be the one making breakfast. One more morning of Orihime's unique culinary tastes would be the end of her. After eating, the girls dressed for school. They made sure Kon was stuffed into Orihime's backpack first.

When they arrived at school, they found a pleasant surprise waiting for them. Ichigo was friendly than usaul; he returned Orihime's greeting and even smiled. At least, he tried too anyway. Thes two things made the substitute quiet happy. That is, until Tatsuki told her the reason for his new mood. A blue funk settled over the orangette's cheery mood and she slumped on the windowsill. Staring out at the rain, she thought, 'If i were the rain, could I connect people's hearts like the rain connects the sky and earth?'

Ichigo was missing the next day.

"I still don't feel right about this." Orihime said, as the train pulled away

"No point having seconds thoughts now." Rukia answered. "What's the big deal anyway?"

"Welll..."Orihime blushed, "I feel like I'm stalking him."

Rukia groaned and pulled her substitue out of the train station. "You're not stalking, your protecting. That boy Ichigo has a phenomonal level of latent spiritual power. If he is attacked by a hollow all the way out here, we'd never reach him in time."

"but-but-" Orihime sputtered.

"Think of yourself as a bodyguard" Rukia said, "....a ninja...yeah a ninja. You're a ninja whose sworn duty is to guard crown prince Ichigo from demons as he makes a......annual ceremonial visit to the imperial tomb." She grimaced. _I've been hanging around her too long._

"Cool!" Orihime then spawned an entire scenario in record time. Right at the point where she slayed the demon overlord and the king and queen realized that class divisons were silly and allowing her marriage, Rukia stopped pulling on her arm.

"Orihime?! What are you doing here? And why are you puckering?"

"Ohh I ...um.."

"Ichigo! Why didn't you tell me you had such a cute friend?!" Isshin cried. He ran up the hill like the maniac he is, " Hello, I'm Ichigo's father, and I hope to be your's too! Not right away of course, unless my son has already planted his seed in which case I will be happy to-" Ichigo kicked him back down the hill.

"Don't say stupid things!" He turned redfaced to Orihime. " I'm really sorry about that, Orihime. My dad.... he's....well he's an idiot. You should ignore him, that's what we do."

Orihime frantically waved her arms and repeatedly said it wasn't a problem. Rukia sighed, and dragged both tomato heads to a secluded location. There she explained their mission to Ichigo and berated him for leaving without telling them. Ichigo scoffed and left to join his family. The two shinigami followed him while something watched from the shadows. Rukia stopped suddenly and told Orihime to go on without her.

Isshin burned incense at Masaki's grave while Karin and Yuzu prayed silently. Ichigo stood next to his dad; the scowl on his face softened into something sadder and filled with regret. Orihime stood off to the side, clutching her elbow and feeling very awkward. This was too personal, too much of a family matter, for her to even _know _about, let alone watch. She almost wished a hollow would show up to save her from it.

"It was when I was 9." Ichigo said suddenly, " I was walking by the river with my mother. Then I saw someone by the water, they were about to fall in. That's when my mom died. It was my fault."

"Ichigo.....?"

"Because of me Karin and Yuzu had to grow up without a mother."his fists tightened and his brow creased. "Becuase off me my dad acts like a freak with that poster!"

"Ichigo..."Orihime said sadly "I'm sure your father was a freak long before that."

Ichigo chuckled softly and bitterly.

"Oh Masaki! This is a great day! Our son and his classmate are bonding because of your noble sacrifice! Soon I will be able to introduce our gran-" Ichigo's elbow slamed into his head.

"Don't pull this crap at mom's grave!"

Orihime giggled, then stopped suddenly. She sensed something. Without a word she left the Kurosaki family group. Moving as fast as she could, she ran toward the source of the hostile spiritual pressure. It was a little too close to her imouto for her liking. She found Rukia standing across from a guy wearing a black kimono and straw hat. Most startling of all, was the zanpakuto at his waist.

"Who are you?"Orihime asked. Without realizing it, she had slipped into a fighting stance, "What are you doing here?" Normally, she would asked the shinigami for kidou lessosn and other advice, but this was different. Her little roomate's posture was tenese, too tense for this to be a social visit.

"You can see me?" The shinigami asked, turning to Rukia he said, "She can see me?"

"She's just an unusual human." Rukia said quickly, "Nothing special."

"Imouto-chan?" Orhime said, confused, "Are there lots of substitute shinigami?"

Rukia face palmed.

"Did she just say substitue shinigami?" asked** H**at, "Now, now, that's a fairly serious crime Ms. Kuchiki. I have no choice but to take you in now."

"What? Wait Wait!" Orihime cried, "She only did it to protect me and others! That's what shinigami are supposed to do, right?!"

"Well yeah, but Central 46 declared it a crime for a shinigami to give their powers to a mortal," he drew his zanpakuto, "and Central 46's word is law."

"Please stop!" Orihime said, "Why are you doing this?!"  
"Because, " Hat said, "I am a shinigami."

"If you don't put that away I'll...." she grabbed Kon and plopped his soul pill in her mouth. Drawing her own zanpakuto she said, "I'll stop you!"

Just as Hat was about to lunge, a spiritual pressure filled the area. All three turned to the grave site, where the Kuorsaki family were still paying their respects. Orihime grabbed Rukia in mid stride and ran. Hat was close behind.

The three Kurosaki children were in the clutches of a hollow. It was large and hairy and had four limps sticking out of is hide. Save for the puppet hanging from its head, the hollow reminded Orihime of a porcupine in a hockey mask.

Just before it ate Ichigo's baby sister, she slashed its arm then spun in mid leap to face it. She knew Rukai would handle the catching.

"A young woman...even better!" the hollow said, "You look especially tasty."

Orihime narrowed her eyes.

"Grand Fisher," Rukia said, laying before her was Yuzu, "That's what we call it. Its uses a lure as a human analogy for catching its prey. Only those with high spiritual energy can see it and thus the Grand Fisher adds to its power."

Ichigo began struggly more widly than ever. All the while shouting and cursing the hollow for killing his mother. The hollow lifted his foot just enough for Ichigo to lunge for the lure, then stomped on him. Laughing, he retracted it.

"I've eaten so many souls..." it said casually,"I can't remember one from six years ago. I might have planned to eat you then but...women just seem so much tastier."

"Let Ichigo go! And his sister too!" Orihime demanded.

"I'd rather not." Grand Fisher said. And with that he tossed Karin up to his hand and threw her in his mouth. Orihime felt a rush of air and suddently Hat was standing in the holloiw's mouth, prying it open and holding Karin.

"What are you doing?!" Orihime asked.

"You were right when you spoke before, Orange." Hat said, "Shinigami exist to protect people and that's it." he strained as Grand Fisher tried to crush him, "I'm not going to let this beast eat anyone else. Especially not with family watching!"He tossed Karin to Orihime just as the hollow's mouth slammed shut.

"Disengerate oh dog of Rudonmani! Burn to ash. tear out your own throat." Rukia shouted, "Bakudo #9: Strike!"

The hollow howled in pain as a red aura encircled it. It recovered almost instantly, but the shock was enough for Hat to escape. Orihime smiled in relief, than gasped as Grand Fisher counterattacked. Hat fell to his knees bleeding in several places. Rukia was brushed and knocked into a tomb stone.

Orihime dashed forwards, intenting to slash its foot and free Ichigo. Afterwards she would jump straight up and go for its mask. She dodged the first hair strike and the second and the third but the the fourth nailed her through the chest. She stopped dead in her tracks and coughed up blood. More hair tendrils wrapped around her, pinning her arms down. She looked up to see Grand Fisher sneer, and, that's when she realized, the first three had been herding her into position.

"I've been dodging shinigami for fifty years, girl," he said, "A novice like you is nowhere near ready to be a threat to me." he pulled closer, next to his mouth, and sniffed, "You smell delicious! Such a unique reiatsu!" Orihime struggled but that only tightened his grip, she wimpered. "Not as much as this boy, but juicier! I think I'll have you first."

"NO . YOU . WON'T!" Two voices shouted.

The Grand Fisher was suddenly encased in two reiatsu explosions; one orange and the other blue. It's tendrils disentegerated and it howled in pain and terror. Finally it fell backwards as its foot was burned.

Orihime landed heavily on her feet, using her zanpakuto to prop herself up. She looked for Ichigo and was amazed. He was standing right in front of her, and he too carried a zanpakuto. However, he wasn't wearing a shinigami robe. He wasn't even a _spirit!_

"Ichigo....how..."she coughed up more blood. Rukia ran to her side and began a healing kidou, but she too was curious about Ichigo's new weapon.

"Are you alright, Orihime?" Ichigo asked. The coolness and concern in his voice gave her shivers.

"Y-yeah I'm alright!" she coughed again.

"Stop talking!" Rukia ordered, "You're making this difficult."

"I'll take it from here."Ichigo said and approached the hollow.

"You're not even a shinigami," Grand Fisher sneered, "And you think you can defeat me? You've got even less chance then that girl."

"Oh yeah? And how do you figure that?" Ichigo lunged. Suddenly he stopped. Standing before him was the figure of his own mother. His pause cost him dearly as Grand Fisher striked several times.

"Even the most hardened warrior has at least one person that they can not kill. By finding out who that is, I become untouchable." Grand Fisher said, "This is how I stayed alive for fifty years."

Orihime moved to get up but Rukia pushed her back down. Forcing eye contact even as Orihime desperately turned to Ichigo.

"Listen to me, Orihime! This is more than a battle of survival to Ichigo. This is a battle to perserve his honor. If you help him, he may win the first, but the second will be lost forever. He'll never recover. You can't help him now."

"But he'll-"

"You CAN'T help him now!" her hands shook as she held Orihime's shoulders. It was then that Orihime realized: 'she wants to help him as much as I do....'

And so, even though her body ached to jump in, Orihime stayed on the sidelines. No matter how many times he was hurt, she forced herself to stay in place. No matter how much it hurt herself, she didn't help him.

Then something amazing happened. The lure spoke to Ichigo, but it wasn't with the Grand Fisher's voice. Rukia explained this was a recording of Ichigo's mother's thoughts as she died. Hat woke up and agreed. Immediately after this, Orihime felt Ichigio's reiatsu rocket up. A moment later she saw his blade pirece Grand Fisher. The hollow shrieked and ran away, shouting revenge.

With the battle over, Orihime was free to run to Ichigo. She caught him just as he collasped and knelt on the ground. His wounds made her robe even bloodier. Rukia approached from his other side and began healing.

"Wow....to think you've found such a threesome,"Hat said, "You've really grown up, Rukia."

Orihime turned a bright shade of red while Rukia glared and told him off. Hat left without completing his mission, stating that he couldn't bare to break up such a cute group.

Ichigo's weapon disapeared as he lost consciousness. Orihime held him closer. She didn't want to see the blade appear again, but then he'd fight again, and get hurt again. She resolved to continue gettinng stronger, so he wouldn't have to.

Yeah its short, but these are the parts most relevant to the Orihime AU


	6. Allies

**Nature of Power Chapter 6****  
Allies**

Two shinigami ran side by side. The fiendish hollow shot laser beams at them but they dodged effortless. They shared a look, and nodded. Like true partners, they had no need for words. They communicated through their hearts!

"Over here, Ugly!" Ichigo shouted, "I've got some tasty reiastu for ya!"

While the hollow was distracted, Orihime snuck up from behind and cut its head off. The body fell limp and the head rolled across the ground. Ichigo stopped it with a foot. As one, they stabbed the mask and the hollow disentegerated.

"You were amazing,Orihime." Ichigo said.

Orihim blushed and looked away, "On stop, you did the dangerous part."

"Nonsense." Ichigo said, walking closer, "I couldn't ask for a better partner," suddenly his arm was around her waist and pulling her close. His other hand cupped her cheek," Or girlfriend."

"Ichigo..." The hand moved behind her head and drew her even closer. Orihime closed her eyes and-

"You need to wake up now."

"...what?"

"Orihime! Get up!"

Orihime sat up in her bed and looked around. To her side was Rukia, who was holding a pillow in one hand. The girl fell back onto her own pillow, dissapointed.

"Its time for school." Rukia said, "Get dressed so you can droll over the real Ichigo."

Orihime jumped up, "I-I wasn't dreaming about Ichigo!" she protested while waving her arms, "It was uh...hollow fighting! Yeah I was dreaming about-"

"Don't bother. I saw how you looked to him last night. You wanted him to help."

Rukia had had a talk with Ichigo about the zanpuktou he manifested at the cemetry, but ended it none the wiser. Ichigo had no idea where the sword came from or where it went. Nor had he been able to manifest it since. A human carrying a zanpakutou; Rukia hadn't thought it was possible. She eventually decided it was a fluke based on his exceddingly high spiritual pressure.

As she pulled her uniform on, Orihime reflected to the previous night. She had gone to see a live filming of one of her favorite shows, staring Don Kanonji! But then the hollow had to ruin it. She did get to see Ichigo pulling security guards off her, so it wasn't a total loss.

During school hours, a hollow alarm went off but there was no hollow there when they arrived at the site. They ended up missing class for no reason. However, Orihime felt a mysterious presence as she looked around.

"I wonder if Uryu decided to help." Orihime wondered aloud.

"Uryu?" Rukia asked.

"Uryu Ishida." Orihime said, "He's a boy in my class with lots of spiritual power. His soul ribbon isn't red though, so I don't know how he could help." She pounded her fists together, "I've got it! He's my rival!"

"...You're what?"

"All superheroes have a rival ally! 'Only I am allowed to defeat you!'" Orihime said in a gruff voice and finger point, "Someone that acts mean but helps the superhero out...Which fits him pretty well actuallly. He's always helping me in Crafts Club, but never says anything nice."

They were called away again during school hours, but still no sign of any hollows. Rukia started to think her soul pager was broken. Ichigo demanded to come this time and was even more frustrated than they were.

"Why are you here, anyway?" Rukia asked, "You're only mortal."

"What are you talking about? That evil fish thing is still out there! I can't sit in class knowing that Orihime is fighting monsters like that!"

"Ichigo..." Orihime breathed, cheeks turning pink.

Ichigo flamed, "I ah...I mean I have to get that sword back for when I find him again."

Rukia rubbed her forehead. This was getting far too complicated. "I can ease your worries if you'd give me that tool you stole." She said outloud.

"Oh, you mean that thing on a spring? I...think I broke it."

"You what?" _Ni-sama's going to be so mad!_ The taciturn look on Byakuya's face when she told him..."What do you mean you broke it?"

"I forgot it was in my pocket when I put in the wash!" Ichigo shouted, "That sort of thing happens!"

"Please you two! Don't fight!" Orihime pleaded while circling them and waving her arms. At the sound of chuckling, all three froze.

"Typical," a voice said from the shadows, "the safety of this town is left to a stooge."

"Who are you calling a stooge?" Ichigo shouted.

"Who are you?" Rukia demanded.

"Hi Uryu!" Orihime waved.

The other two facefaulted.

"Uh...Orihime...he's taking over your duty _and_ he just insulted you."

"Oh, he's always like that."

Ichigo stomped over to the bespectacled boy and grabbed his collar, "Listen here, Willo-"

"Uryu." Both he and Orihime said, "Uryu Ishida."

"Whatever, you have some explaining to do!"

Uryu's glasses caught the light of streetlamps and became opague. Jumping away from Ichigo, his hand burst into blue light. A longbow formed from this light and an arrow followed; it was pointed directly at Ichigo.

"Ichigo!" Orihime shouted, "Duck-"

Uryu released his arrow and it flew directly at Ichigo. He barely got out of the way in time, and the arrow struck a hollow behind him instead. It was only then that Rukia's soul pager went off. She looked from the dissolving hollow, then to the mortal that just slayed it. None were more shocked than Ichigo.

Uryu scoffed and walked away. "This city is fortunate that Orihime is the substitute." he said, "I can only imagine the chaos if it was _you_ instead."

"Who _are_ you?" Rukia demanded again.

Uryu paused and looked over his shoulder, "Uryu Ishida, Quincy." With that he continued walking and disapeared into the night.

"See you at Craft Club tomorrow!" Orihime called.

The two facefaulted again.

The next day, the trio decided to do some reconnaissance. Rukia looked into what a 'quincy' was, while Orihime and Ichigo would spy on Uryu. Actually there was just one person doing reconnaissance: Orihime was going to Craft Club anyway and Ichigo just wanted to see if Uryu was really into sewing.

"Uryu has mad sewing skillz!" Orihime chirped, "watch!"

One of Orihime's friends approached with a teddy that had one of its arms hanging by a thread. Uryu tossed the bear into the air and mended its arm before it came back down.

"See?"

Ichigo sweatdropped.

As Uryu left, Orihime followed after him. She told Ichigo to stay behind, because she going to convince Uryu to join their superhero group. The recruitment simply wouldn't go as well with the two of them butting heads.

"But what if he tries something?" Ichigo demanded.

" 'Something'?" Orihime asked, head titled.

"You know...something..."Ichigo's face reddened, "...Perverted."

"Oh don't worry about that; Uryu's too chivalrious for that." She said and walked away, "Now that I think about it, it's something you two have in common."

"We have _nothing_ in common!"

But Orihime didn't hear him. She was already spaced out into a fantasy world where she was warrior princess who spent more time keeping the peace between her two knight companions then in the country at large. She snapped out of it when a car honked at her. Giggling sheepishly, she ran to catch up with Uryu.

"Uryu! Wait up!"

Uryu stopped and turned around, "What do you want?"

"Please join us!"

"You ask me that same question in May,when you first became a shinigami. " Uryu said, voice becoming hard,"I said 'no'."

"But you're fighting hollows now!" Orihime protested, "We'll kill more if we work together!"

"I said 'no'!" Uryu said,

"But why?"

"You're a shinigami and I'm a quincy. That's why." Uryu said, "I hate all shinigami and that includes you."

Oirhime sniffed, "But we have so much fun in Craft Club..." Her lower lip trembled, and Uryu began to panic.

"Wait! Don't cry!...I...No." he turned back around, "I will not work with shinigami."

"But I'm just a substiute..." Orihime said softly, " and I need an ally. I already lost my brother to the hollows... I need help if I'm going to protect the people I have left."

Uryu gasped. That was exactly what his grandfather said. _Quincy release arrows from their heart to protect those precious to them_. The Quincy mission of avenging comrades...Uryu shook his head.

"If you can prove yourself worthy of being my comrade...than I will join you."

"Really?" Orihime clasped her hands in excitement, "What do I have to do?"

"Demonstrate your comittement to me, in a duel."

"Sure! What are the rules?"

Uryu reached into his pocket and withdrew a small disk. Orihime looked at it in confusion. The disk was crushed between his fingers and its fragments drifted into the sky.

"That was hollow bait." Uryu said, "Any second now, swarms of them will fill this town. Whoever kills the most in the next 24 hours wins."

Orihime gasped, "But how...so many people...Why-"

"Where's your confidence, Orange Reaper?" Uryu asked, "If you don't think you can protect everyone, than stand back and leave it to me."A hollow scream filled the air. Uryu spun around and silenced it a second later. "I won't let a single whole be eaten."

"Do you really value life so lightly?" Orihime asked softly.

Reiatsu flaring in anger, Uryu turned back to Orihime.

"It is the Shinigami who value human life lightly." He said coldly, "Are you going to stand there and debate the point, or prove me wrong?"

Orihime's fists clenched at her sides. She glared at Uryu for a moment longer, then reached into her bag and pulled out a stuffed animal. Ignoring its protests, she pulled a pill out of its mouth and plopped it into her own.

"Take care of me!" Orihime shouted over her shoulder.

Uryu watched her run off, then drew his bow a second time. His arrow shattered a hollow just as it came out of its hole.

But more hollows were arriving by the minute and dropping all over town. One particularly nasty one had already landed in the school, and was leering at some students cleaning up glass. It had its sights on one in particular; a blackhaired girl in a martial arts uniform.

"Such high spirit energy." it muttered, "More than the rest put together."

Its forehead bulged, and purple seeds shot down towards the students below. The primary target was able to dodge, but others were

not so lucky. They were now the hollow's pawns and it used them to fight the black-haired girl. She fought them all off with the same ease as she dodged the seed bullets. At least, until she was grabbed by a redhaired girl. This stunned her along enough to be properly grabbed by the other mooks.

"You put up a good fight," the hollow said, "but the game is over." The hollow reached over to stroke her cheek with its tentacle, "I will eat your soul, and then all the others."

Tatsuki bit the offending tentacle and the hollow roared in pain. It was about to fire at her, when it was distracted by an explosion of reiatsu.

Just around the corner of the school building, an emormous flare of blue light overshadowed the hollow and its minions. The concentration of reiatsu was already large and growing larger still. The hollow couldn't believe its luck; this whole was infinitely meater than the first one. It sent a number of pawns to investigate, but they were immediately repelled.

From around the corner walked a human. His hair was bright orange but most startling of all was the huge zanpaktou over his shoulder. The hollow started to quiver...So much spirit energy wasn't worth it, if it had to fight a _shinigami_.

"Where are your robes, shinigami?" The hollow demanded.

The human looked past it to the black haired girl, "You alright, Tatsuki?"

The girl broke free from and subuded the mooks before responding, "I'm just fine, Ichigo. Thanks for the distraction." She got back into a fighting stance.

"Good, now run away as fast as you can."

"What?"

"You can't beat this thing." Ichigo said,

"And you can?"

"I have a sword!" Ichigo shouted and waved said sword in the air.

"Then give it to me!" Tatsuki shouted back, " You've never _once_ beaten me at kendo!"

"HOW DARE YOU IGNORE ME!" The hollow shouted, and fired seeds at both of them. Tatsuki dodged while Ichigo blocked. "Orange human! What are you, if not a shinigami?"

"Doesn't matter!" Ichigo said and started running, "I'm still gonna kill you!"

The hollow prepared to fire at Ichigo, but Tatsuki jumped kicked its back. The surprise was just long enough for Ichigo to close the distance and slash its mask. With one final yell, it disolved. The green sploches on its victims disapeared and they all fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Ichigo!" Tatsuki said, "What's going on? What was that thing and where did you get that sword? WHERE'S ORIHIME?...Whose that clapping?"

From the distance came two figures. One of them was really big and carried Chad over his shoulders. The second was smaller, and he was the one clapping.

"Hat-and-Clogs!" Ichigo shouted.

"Good job, Ichigo. Congrats on calling out your power." Urahara said, " As for you, Mis. Tatsuki, I can answer all of your questions but this is no place for idle chatter." He pulled out his fan, "We can discuss everything at my shop."

All this time, Orihime was fighting her way back to the school. She was terrified about what might be happening to her friends but the endless hollows slowed her down. Suddenly, she felt a spike of reiatsu and her face lit up. It was Ichigo, and he was manifesting the power he used on Grand Fisher! _Now we can be a superhero cou-team!_ Orihime shook her head, _A superhero team!_

However, when she finally arrived at the school, it was was deserted. There was no sign of her Ichigo or any of her friends. Even the soul ribbons failed in finding them; it was like someone had popped up and hidden them. She could only hope they were alright.

In the meantime, she had more hollows to slay!

It would be a lot easier if she could find Uryu. _Maybe if I can find him, I can fight with him and thus convince him that we make great allies!_ She giggled at her cleverness. She manifested spirit ribbons on the fly and searched around for Uryu's. W

The quincy was fighting a hollow with Rukia and Kon. She politely waited behind the hollow until he released his arrow, then waved to him.

"Which one was that?" She asked.

"25." Uryu replied and formed another arrow.

"I got about 20." Orihime said, "Which means...by working together we can kill twice as many hollows _and_ keep the town twice as safe!" Uryu ran out of the street and into a field. Orihime quickly caught up to him and matched his pace. "We can even set an example for more Shinigami/Quincy pairs and usher in a new age of safety!"

Uryu stopped in his tracks and so did Orihime. She held her breath as Uryu spoke, "Your plan is doomed from the start."

"What?" Orihime pouted, "Why?"

Uryu turned around and stared at her, "Because I am the Last Quincy."

Orihime gasped. Uryu took this opportunity to run away from her.

"The Quincy went extinct 200 years ago." Rukia said, "No, it would be more accurate to say they were_ made_ extinct by Shinigami."

Orihime listened in horror, as Rukia explained the end of the Quincy. It all boiled down to this: Soul Society systematically slaughtered them to perserve the balance of the world. She couldn't believe it; heroes killing each other because their powers worked differently.

"Uryu!" She yelled over the sounds of battle, "I'm sorry about what happened to your ancestors," she said as she slashed a hollow, "but I want you to know that I would never ever-"

"I already know that." Uryu said and fired an arrow, "You had nothing to do with the genocide 200 years ago, nor do I blame the shinigami for what they did. In fact, I agree with them."

"Then why do you won't you be my ally?"

"My teacher was a kind man; he never hurt anyone." Uryu fired several more arrows, "He even advocated the same kind of partnership you are now, but no matter what his arguement, the shinigami only replied, 'stay out of our way'!"

He ducked and fired again, "Because they didn't listen to him, he died! That's why I'm doing this! I have to prove the superiority of the Quincy!"

Orihime stopped, and stared at him with watery eyes. Slowly she walked over to him; the hollow nearby were somehow rejected from her path. When she reached Uryu, she stared into his eyes for several seconds. Then she flicked his forehead.

"Oww!"

"How did someone as dense as you," Orihime said kindly, "Outscore everyone on the exam? You can fullfill your teacher's dream right now, by fighting alongside me!"

The mysterious spell broken, all the hollows surged forward. Orihime jumped forwards and sliced a hollow, then Uryu the killed the one next to her; Orihime slashed the one about to attack him and Uryu fired at one sneaking up on her. She turned around and smiled gratefully at him.

"I-I'm only did that to save my own life." he said rather quickly.

"That's okay."

The two new comrades continued fighting and slaying in this manner. However, the number of hollows didn't decrease and what's worse, the sky above them was cracking. Orihime sensed something terrifying just beyond the rift. What came out, was something far worse.

A titantic hollow pulled the sky apart and entered the human world. Far bigger than any building, its mask alone dwarfed most of them. Even with her new ally, Orihime doubted she could handle it _and_ all the hollows surrounding her.

Then she heard cannon fire and someone shout, 'Homerun swing!'. She turned and saw Ururu and Jinta from the Urahara shop. Urahara himself was standing back a ways, while his giant assisant ripped hollows apart with his bare hands.

"I heard you were looking for allies, ." Urahara said behind his fan, "We'll leave that one to you."

Orihime nodded, "Right!" She grabbed Uryu and ran off.

"Wait!" Rukia called, "Ori-" a binding force snapped around her. _Bakudo?_

"Wait here, Ms. Kuchiki." Urahara said, "This battle is...neccessary."

Orihime dragged Uryu to the foot of the large hollow and dropped them there. "Give me cover fire!" she shouted over her shoulder. Uryu muttered something about 'crazy girls' but did as he was told. Both their atttacks were completely useless.

"Owie..."Orihime groaned, bleeding from the forehead.

"This isn't a normal enemy..." Uryu mused, "Teacher called them...'Menos Grande'...a combination of many hollows."

Orihime jumped up and pumped her fist, "Then we will combine wholes!" She turned to him with her most energetic look, "Do you think you could shoot my sword as an arrow?"

"Shoot your sword...as an arrow?" Uryu asked, incredulous, "Sure...why not?"

As soon as her touched it, the size of his bow multiped several times over. Both were amazed at the transformation and a new plan was made. Orihime strapped her sword to Uryu's head with some Craft Club supplies they happened to have, and then stood behind him while holding the sword's hilt.

"Here it is!" Orihime chirped, "The ultimate fulliment of your teacher's dream!"

Uryu's heart skipped a beat, "...You're right." _Grandfather_, he thought, _I hope you can see this_.

With the Menos approaching, the two joined their power into a single arrow bigger than both of them. Uryu took aim at its head, and let the arrow go. It zoomed toward the hollow's head, and was engulfed in the energy ball forming in its mouth.

"What?"

_Cero!_ Rukia thought, _If that connects, it will vaporize them!_

The charge fired upon the shinigami/quincy pair, completely engulfing them. Orihime blocked with her sword but the strain threatened to break it, along with her body! Gritting her teeth, she dug her heels in and pushed. _Uryu's teacher's dream is on the line! I refuse to let it be destroyed!_ The blade began to shine bright orange and Orihime after it.

Uryu stared in amazement. _How is she holding this thing back? She doesn't have nearly as much reiatsu as Kurosaki...And what's this glow?_

"I...RE...JECT!"

The Cero was repelled and dispersed into harmless reiatsu. The orange glow was drawn into Uryu's bow, making it orange and even bigger. Orihime panted and trembled, but stayed on her feet.

"One...One more time!" Orihimed commanded, "While its stunned!"

When Uryu pulled the string back, the arrow took a new and more powerful form. From its tip to its flight feathers, it resembled a humanoid creature; almost like a black and red fairy. Urahara smiled beneath his fan.

"FIRE!"

Uryu released the arrow, and this time, it nailed dead one in the hollow's mask. It roared in anguish and stumbled backwards. As the Menos retreated, the rift closed up and the sky returned to normal.

Orihime fell backwards and let out a sigh of relief. With a giggle she swung her sword around in a mock renactment of her battle seconds ago. Uryu grinned as he looked upon her; he never would have guesssed she had such a power...

Her blade distorted, and his expression quickly became one of alarm. A rush of reiatsu buffeted him a second later, and he heard Orihime's cry of panic.

"Its over-heating!" Rukia yelled, still paralyzed, "she used too much at once!"

"I have to do something!" Uryu muttered, "That's it!"

Uryu re-established contact with her zanpaktou, this time by stepping on. The wild reiatsu instantly tore at his body and cut his bow arm. Nevertheless, he pulled back the string of his enormous orange bow and released a black/red arrow.

"Stop it Uryu!" Orihime shouted, "You're destroying your arm!"

"Shut up!" Uryu commanded, and fired another arrow "I'm going to save you!" Another arrow followed his words

"But-"

"You're my ally now," Another arrow, "and I'm going to save you; now shut up!" Another arrow..._ I __**will**__ save her, Teacher..._ Another arrow..._I failed to save you...I was too weak to help you fight; too cowardly to risk my life for your sake..._Another arrow..._ Forgive me, Teacher... I won't hide in my hatred of shinigami anymore..._Another arrow..._I will save this one..._Another arrow_...So please forgive me...Grandfather..._Uryu fell to his knees as the zanpaktou stablized.

"Thanks, Uryu." Orihime said. She leaned up and reached out to him, "Will we be working together again?"

Uryu paused, and then clasped hands with her.

"Yes."


	7. Mentor

**Nature of Power Chapter Seven**

**Mentor**

"Why did you invite me up here?" Uryu asked.

"Because,"Orihimed replied, "you're offically a member of the Hollow Purification Society!"

"...The what?"

Orihime and Uryu were having lunch on the school's roof, along with Rukia and Ichigo and Chad. No one else had been allowed up.

"A superhero group that protects Kanakura town." Orihime said, "I"m the Orange Reaper," She pointed to Uryu, "you're the Blue Archer," then to Chad, "Black Fist, "to Ichigo, "Silver Sword," Finally to Rukia, "Black Mentor."

"Color coded?" Ichigo asked, "_Please _tell me you haven't made outfits."

"Actually..." Orihime reached behid her neck and giggled nervously.

"I refuse." Uryu said monotone. Before anyone could say a word, he continued, "I already have my own costume."

"Sugoi!" Orihime cheered, "That means one less to make."

"I'm not wearing spandex!" Ichigo protested.

"I'm...too big." Chad said.

"Pwease?" Orihime pouted, sparkles even appeared her head.

Rukia chuckled as she watched the boy's resolve melt, but her mind was drawn to more serious matters. It won't take long for Soul Society to hear about the Menos Grande, and a shinigami had already come to rerieve her. _I've over stayed my welcome..._She thought, _I can't stay here anymore. _

That night, she slipped out of the house while Orihime slept. By the time she woke up, the whole mess would be over. _Black mentor huh?_ Rukia thought as she ran. _That is rathering fitting...Orihime wounded a menos and has gathered many allies...she no longer needs a mentor to hold her hand...she no longer needs me..._A wave of spiritual power almost floored her, and she barely dodged a strike from a zanpaktou.

"Its been a long time..." Said her attacker. His red hair stood out against the night, "Rukia."

"Renji..."

Orihime opened her eyes and sat up in bed. A frightening spiritual power had snapped at her consciousnes, pulling her out of a dream where buildings were made of brocoli and the sky rained ketchup. All such tasty thoughts were driven from her mind when she saw her nightstand: Rukia's soul glove lay on it.

Her eyes darted around the room, but her fictive little sister was nowhere to be found. They settled into a determined stare,f and she used the glove to pull herself out. She ran out the door as fast as she could and on the way she ran into Uryu, who was also sprinting.

"You felt it, too?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Uryu said aloofly, "I simply need more craft supplies and the store closes soon."

"Then you should hurry." Orihime replied, "I'm glad you need more supplies." she added with a smile. Uryu turned slightly pink. "Do you think Ichigo will come too?"

"That idiot?" Uryu drawled, "I doubt he has any idea what's going on."

Ichigo was, in fact, sound asleep.

"I guess you're right." Orihime agreed, "He's not very good at sensing reiatsu." She stopped suddenly, and Uryu did right next to her. "They're here."

"Two of them..." Uryu muttered, "I'll go high, you go low."

Orihime nodded, "Got it!"

While Uryu launched an arrow at the guy with the hair piece, Orihime dashed out to tackle the guy attacking her little sister. Just as she swung her sword, the pineapple head spun around and blocked her strike.

"What are you _doing_ here?" Rukia shrieked.

"I'm here to save you!" Orihime declared. She broke the pushing match and jumped away from Renji. "As for you, _pine apple head_, "Orihime said gruffly, "You can either leave, or face the Great Bobbing of Justice!"

Renji was so surprised he lowered his sword, "...Great _Bobbing_ of Justice?" He turned to Rukia, "Where did you _find_ this girl?"

"Don't ask..." Rukia groaned.

"Whatever..." Turning to Orihime he said, "I am Renji Arabi, lieutenant of the 6th squad in the Gotei 13. For the crime of remaining in the living world and transfering her powers to a human, we have come to arrest her."

"She was just fullfilling her duities!" Orihime protested, "How is that a crime?"

"It just is." Renji said, "As soul reapers, we have to obey the rules."

"Well its a stupid rule!" Orihime said, "Rukia's been fighting hollows and guiding wholes all this time!"

"If you get in our way then-hey!" Renji struggled as Rukia put him into a half-nelson.

"Orihime you have to get out of here!" Rukia said, "You and Uryu both!"

"I'm not leaving you!" Orihime said, "You're like the little sister I never had..."

Renji's companion twitched at these words.

Renji himeself threw Rukia off and charged Orihime, who was barely able to block in time. Renji pushed forwards,each time coming within inches of a fatal blow. All that kept Orihime alive were the lessons from Tatsuki, but at last experience triumphed and her sword arm was cut. She screamed in pain and grabbed the wound. Her grip weakened and she lowered her sword.

"Why haven't you called your zanpaktuo's name?" Renji demanded, "You'll lose if you don't."

"My zankaptou's...name?" Orihime asked, "It has a name?"

"You mean you haven't even asked it yet?" Renji shouted, "How can you expect to protect _anyone_ if you don't know how you powers work?"

"Oh, you mean kidou?" Orihime asked, "I haven't learned that yet."

Renji howled in frustration, "Like this!" He held up his zanpakuto and held his other hand near its hilt, "Howl, Zabimaru!"

Without lights or sparkes or any ado, the sword shifted into a new shape. No longer a simple katana, but a serrated blade that looked to be segmented. Orihime gasped in amazement. Her own zanpakuto looked tame in comparison.

"Let me give you a demonstration." Renji flung the sword and its length extended as it flew. Orihime ducked under the attack, and then she realized, _I'm not his target!_

"Uryu wa-" her cry came too late, as the blade reached her ally and tore into him.

The Last Quincy had been firing arrows at Renji's companion, and all of them splattered on his robes like water balloons. In his frustration Uryu didn't see the blade into it was too late. Now he was on his back with a large wound across his front.

Orihime stared in shock, unmoving. Then the weapon zipped back and cut into her leg. She screamed a second time and fell to her knees.

"Now do you see?" Renji asked, "Without knowing your zanpakuto's name, you stand no chance against me. ...I'll be taking Rukia now."

"No, no no no no..." Orihime muttered, clutching her bleeding arm, "I can't let this happen!" A brillant orange glow appeared around, "I CAN'T LET THIS HAPPEN!" The glow exploded!

Before Renji's eyes, the badly injuried girl stood up on her bad leg and pointed her sword at him with her disabled arm.

"I REJECT!"

A beam of red/orange light flared down on Renji, who jumped out of the way. Everything else in the beam's path, even the air itself, disapeared, as it had been erased from reality.

"Zabimaru, see your prey and kill!" Renji shouted as he swung his own sword. The razors bounced off Orihime's aura. All they did was get her attention.

"I REJECT!"

Faster this time. Renji felt the terrible power inches from his body before he jumped again to safety. The third beam was faster still; his shades were vaporized right off his head. Finally, Orihime cornered him.

"I RE-"

She broke off mid chant and fell to the ground, a bloody mess. Renji's companion stood behind her, as calm as ever. He walked over to Rukia and said two words.

"We're leaving."

Rukia bowed her head, "I understand, Ni-sama."

She looked at Orihime, now surrounded by a pool of her own blood. _I didn't want this to happen to you! _she thought in frustration, _Why couldn't you have just stayed in bed? _

Byakuya walked by Renji and only gave him a parting glance before moving on. Renji stood up shamefully and followed him. Rukia was in the middle.

Renji returned his sword to normal and stabbed the air. Around the blade grew a pillar of light, solidifing into japanese doors. Renji withdrew his sword, and the doors open.

"Onee-chan...wait..."

Rukia gasped. She spun back around to see Orihime, still laying on the ground and still breathing. Names fell from her lips in a deathly whisper, "Sai... Misato... Takashi... Asuna... Watanuki..."

"Rukia," Renji asked, "Are these people her acomplices, or is she guessing her zanpakuto's name? Either way, she's still resisiting."

"No one." Rukia said, as serenly as she could, "They're the names of anime characters, that's all."

"And why does she call you 'little sister' with so familar an honor-fic?" Buyakuya asked.

"Its just a silly nickname." Rukia insisited, ignoring the tears in her eyes, "Because I'm shorter than her."

"...Usagi...Satoshi...Rem..."

"Stop it!" Rukia cried, finally lossing her composure, "Its over! Your powers are gone! Ni-sama destroyed your soul sleeve _and_ your soul chain!" Her body shook, "There's no point in guessing...just enjoy what little life you have left."`

Turning back to her older brother she said, "I'm ready to face my punishment, but she has nothing to do with this, and will die very soon anyways."

Byakuya's expression didn't change. "Very well. I will not strike the final blow." He passed through the door, with Renji following and then Rukia. She looked once more at her fictive big sister, and the doors closed.

No more guesses dropped from Orihime's lips. There was no longer any point. Her 'Hollow Purification Society' had fractured and failed. Rukia was gone, Uryu was dead, and herself about to follow. Two members didn't even show up! Tears came instead.

Soon she no longer had the strength even for that. She slipped into unconsciousness, still thinking about her little sister. Silence.

It was broken by the sound of clogs on pavement.


	8. Lessons

**Chapter 8**

**Lessons**

Orihime sat up with a start, then whined as her body shouted in pain. She looked down and saw bandages covering her upper body. She looked around to unfamilar surroundings. _Where am I?_

"Boss! Inoue's awake!"

Orihime jumped at the sound, elicting more painful protests from her body. She looked to the shouter and saw a giant wearing sunglasses.

"I know you." She said, "You're the big guy that works for ...did you save me?" She gasped and jumped up, "Uryu! Did you save owww." Groaning, she fell back to her makeshit bed.

A door slide open and a man wearing clogs walked in. Tessai bowed as he passed. With a snap the man opened his fan and said,

"You shouldn't move around so much. You'll die."

"...so it _was_ you. Thank you." She groaned again. A dull ache had set in, now made sharper by her movements. "What about Uryu? Is he here? Is he okay?"

"Uryu is fine. His injury looked worse than it was." Urahara replied, "I treated his wounds on the street, and he left." Then he added, "He was worried about you." though without any hint of teasing.

Orihime pinked nonetheless, "That was...nice of him. But what about Rukia? They're not really going to execute her are they?"

Urahara lowered his hat, "Yes, I'm afarid they will."

Orihimed turned her head away, "Its all my fault. Just like with my brother. I called her my mentor and she gets hauled off to her death...I can't even _try_ to save her now..."

"That's not neccesarily true..."

Orihime turned back slowly, "Its not?"

"There _is_ a way to Soul Society from here."

"Really? How? Tell me! Tell me!Tell me!Tell me!Tell me!Tell me!Tell me!Tell me!Tell me!Tell me!Tell me!Tell me!Tell me!Tell me!Tell me!Tell me!" Urahara waited until she was out of breathe to continue.

"Of course I'll tell you. But on one condition."

Orihime had to wait until after her big breathe to answer, "What is it?"

"For the next ten days, you stay here and study fighting with me."

"Can I really get strong enough in just ten days?" Orihime asked, "I could barely hold my own against Pineapple head, let alone the stoic guy."

Urahara stood up and walked away, "Orihime."

"Y-yes?"

"There will be over two dozen warriors just as strong as the ones you fought, not including the rank-and-file. You will be stepping into the lion's den. Are you truly willing to rescue Rukia?"

"Of course!" Orihime said. Her eyes narrowed in resolve, and her voice became solid and determined, "I will train with you and prove to all of them the power of sisterly love!" Orihime jumped to her feet, then fell right back down again, groaning.

"Your wounds haven't healed completely yet." Urahara said,"Come back after school."

"But I'm fine! Really!" Urahara poked her side with his fan and she whimpered.

"Come back later."

...Okay..."

It was a werid last day of school. There were no hollows to fight and no otherworld mentor to tell her where they were. It was werid because it was so normal. Orihime got depressed it was so normal.

The fact that no one else noticed made it even worse. Uryu was missing, and Ichigo and Chad were acting like they _hadn't_ been at the inagural meeting of the HPS just the other day.

"Are you alright?" Tatsuki asked.

"Huh? Oh...yeah...I'm fine."

"Orihime, tell me what's wrong."

"Wellll...my fictive little sister who you've met but don't remember was taken away by warriors from another world last night and now I have to train for ten days straight in order to go there and fight a bunch of really strong warriors so I can save her."

Tatsuki blinked.

"Is this one of your daydreams?"

Orihimed sighed, "Its fine, Tatsuki. I don't expect you to believe me. I..." She looked down, "I just hope you don't forget me when I follow her."

"Orihime," Tatsuki said and put an arm around her friend, "I could never forget you."

Orihime smiled weakly, "Thanks."

School ended and Orihime was the first one out. As she turned a corner to the Urahara shop, a hand grabbed her arm. Istantly she twisted it and tossed the thug over her shoulder. No chance to recover, she dropped to elbow smash in their gut. Ichigo choked as her small arm dug into him.

She turned bright red and stumbled through apologies. Ichigo heaved and awkwardly stood up. Orihime continued apologizing until he waved them away.

"Wh...Where's that little girl you hang out with?" Ichigo asked.

Orihime gasped, "You mean Rukia? You remember her?"

"Of course I do. No one else seems to though, except Chad." Ichigo gestured behind him, where the big guy was standing. He raised his hand in greeting. "What happened to her?"

"Wellll...she was taken away by warriors from another world last night and now I have to train for ten days straight in order to go there and fight a bunch of really strong warriors so I can save her."

Ichigo blinked.

"You're joking right?"

Orihime sighed, "I should've-"

"That's far too dangerous for you." Ichigo said, "I'll go instead."

"You can't! They're really super strong."  
"All the more reason why I should be the one to go. You should stay here."

Chad watched the back and forth between the two: everytime Orihime tried to stress how dangerous it was, Ichigo became even more determined to take her place. It got to the point where Ichigo grabbd of her shoulders and said,

"Orihime, let me do it!"She looked back at him, slightly fearful. He let go and jumped back, shamefaced. "Uh...sorry...I...don't want you to get hurt...so..."

"I'd love to have you along, Ichigo, and you too Chad." Orihime said calmly, "But I'm going no matter what."

"But!"

"I'm going." Orihime said firmly.

Ichigo fidgeted, looking around helplessly. Orihime gave him a disarming smile and spun around, hair flying as she continued on her way.

In Kanakura town there was a candy shop, and in that shop was a secret door in the floor and in that door was a ladder and the ladder lead to-

"Wow!" Orihime shouted as she ran around, "This is so cool!" She skidded to a stop in front of Tessai, "Did you make all this?"

"The boss created it, I only helped." Tessai said humbly.

_It_ refered to the giant desert under the Urahara shop. It even had a painted blue sky. Bright eyed, Orihime turned to Urahara and clasped her hands.

"Can we start my lesson now?"

"As you wish."

Urahara spun his cane and jabbed Orihime in the forhead, ejecting her from her body. She stumbled back and landed on her butt. She was still wearing her school uniform.

"Where's my-"she slumped and put a hand to her chest.

"Having trouble breathing?" Urahara asked, "That's what its like to be an ordinary soul. You've lost your spiritual energy and so we need to restore it before moving on. You can come out now."

Cute little Ururu walked out, holding sparring gear in her skirt in a way that resembled a curtesy, thus making her appear all the more adorable.

"Lesson 1: Fight Ururu. The lesson will end when one of is unable to continue fighting."

Ururu dropped the gear, "Please put this on, otherwise you'll die."

Orihime picked up the headgear and examined it, "Is this some kind of special spiritual trainning equipment?"

"Oh no," Urahra said with a wave of his fan, "You really will die."

"What do you-"

Ururu was suddenly in her face, fist cocked back. A smoke screen surrounded them as the punch impacted, and the redhead flew away. She screamed as Ururu dove with another haymaker.

"Orihime! Repeat after me!" Urahara shouted urgently, "Take this! Power of Justice! Armor of Justice, Headband of Justice Activate!"

Running for her life, Orihime held the headband against her head and shouted, "Take this! Power of Justice! Armor of Justice, Headband of Justice Activate!"

The only sound was Ururu devastating the landscape.

Orihime continued running with the tiny powerhouse one step away. Eventually she realized something.

"By the power of Soul Society," Orihime shouted, "I HAVE THE POWEEERRRR!"

The collective urahara shop stopped whatever they were doing, and sweatdropped. Ururu even titled her head. Orihime smirked. _Opening!_

She lunged forward with a jab, which Ururu dodged with ease. While Orihime was open, she pulled back another deadly puch. Orihime looked with horror and just barely managed to twisted around the blow. She was nailed by the second though.

She flew through the air like a missle and crashed into a mountain. When the smoke cleared, Tessai was cradling her.

"Please give me another chance." Orihime begged, "I'll do it this time!"

"No need." Urahara said, "You've already cleared lesson 1."

"But I just lost."

"Are still you out of breathe?"

"Uhhh..." Orihime took a few seconds to determine, "No, I guess not."

"Then you've cleared lesson one. Ururu here can defeat full-fledged soul reapers; You couldn't possibly have won. The point was to restore your spiritual energy, which you did by dodging Ururu's attack. Spiritual strength grows by the soul being in danger. If you restored your spirit energy by then you would survive."

"And if I didn't?"

"You would've died."

"Oh..."Orihime shuffled, "Well, can we start lesson two now?"

Urahara grinned, "Certainly."

An axe sliced Orihime's chain of fate clean through. The girl gaped, then ommphed as Tessai sat on her.

"Wh-why-_you just killed me!_"

"That's correct." Urahara said with a spread of his fan, "Once the chain of fate has been severed, you can never return to your living body. The chain will now encrouch upon itself, and then you will be a hollow. If you don't want that to happen you must become a shinigami."

"What do I have to do?"

"Lesson 2: GO!"

Orihime screamed as the ground beneath her disappeared and she freefalled into a dark abyss.

"That's a pretty deep hole."

"I do my best!" Ururu said cutely.

In another section of the city, a black cat approached a pair of students. The smaller one, with orange hair, was still gaping at what he did and what his innocenet daydreamer was going to do. His giant companion had a hand on his shoulder, but otherwise looked completely stoic.

"Do you wish to help that girl?" the black cat asked.

Ichigo spun around, "Who said that?"

"I did. I am Yoruichi" The cat said, "Do you wish to help Orihime?"

Ichigo skidded away, "THE CAT'S TALKING!"

Yoruichi sweatdropped, "There's no need to draw a crowd."

"Its just...a little distruping." Chad put in.

"Do you wish to help Orihime?" Yoruichi repeated a third time.

"How do you know her?" Ichigo growled.

"She is trainning with a friend of mine." Yoruichi replied, "if you want to follow her, you must learn to awaken your new powers; you must train with me."

"I don't need to."Ichigo scoffed, "I already hacve full control of my power." He tensed up and held out his hand and yelled. Nothing happened, "Where's my sword? Why can't I get it?"

"As I was saying," Yoruichi said, "I will show you how to access your powers at will, and then you will be able to protect the girl you care for so much."

_'I'm going no matter what'_ The words echoed in Ichigo's mind. Orihime was far too gentle for such a task, too sweet and kind. He had to protect her from it. _'I'd love to have you along'_ . Maybe she wanted this as well...With that thought in mind, he formed soul ribbons and swallowed his pride.

One in particular lead them out of town and to natural looking area, complete with a waterfall. This was where they found Uryu. The bespecaled boy's eyes narrowed when he saw Ichigo.

"What do you want?"

Ichigo glared at him, "Orihime's goig to Soul Society to rescue Rukia."

"I see. And?"

Ichigo exploded, "Don't you care? She's going to get herself killed! She said you were chivalrious!"

"Rukia's a shinigami, and so is none of my concern." He turned around.

"You are Orihime's ally, are you not?" Yoruichi asked.

"Who said that?"

"I did. I am Yoruichi."

"THAT CAT JUST TALKED!"

Yoruichi sighed, "Why are males so unable to adapt to new situations?"

"I'm not used to talking animals!"

"I'm still getting used to it myself." Chad said.

Uryu salvaged what remained of his dignity and walked away from the group, saying he had no time to waste on Orihime's stooges. This set Ichigo off and he grabbed Uryu's collar. Chad had to step in and pull them apart. Yoruichi sweatdropped a second time, hoping Orihime's training was going better.

Said girl looked around the pit she'd fallen into. It was dark and dry and dreary. She tried to pushed herself up, but her arms were stuck. Gulping, she looked over her shoulder and saw them trapped in arm binders. She thrashed and they tightened; they grew so tight she whimpered and collapsed.

"My apologies, ." Tessai said. The giant sat a few feet away, "but for the duration of lesson your arms must be bound."

"What's going on?" She shrieked.

"Lesson 2." Urahara declared, standing at the top, "Orihime Inoue, If you can climb out of here in three days you will pass and proceed to lesson 3. If you can't, we'll have to kill you."

"You-you're seriously going to kill me?" Orihime asked.

"That is entirely up to you." Urahra said, "It all depends on whether or not you emerge from this pit as a shinigami or a hollow. This is the lesson known as 'Shattered Shaft."

"But-AAAAAAHHHHH!"

The encrouchment had begun. She curled into a fetal position, eyes squeezed shut. The pain was incapitatingly bad; all she could do is wait for it to pass. At last she lay flat out, panting.

"How...how am I...suppo...supposed to climb out...without my...hands?"

"My apologies, ." Tessai said, "That's part of the lesson."

Orihime moved into a sitting position and scruched up her eyes as she planned her great escape. _Maybe if I tape my feet in morse code, I can conntact a colony of moles and they can dig me out!...no that won't work...I'm supposed to do this myself..._ She stood up and took measure of the wall; completely straight. _Maybe I'm supposed to run straight up this wall!_

Two seconds later.

"Owwwwieeee..."Orihime whined as she lay on her back. She stared up at the entrance, thinking, until another encourchment began and gave her more to scream about.

This cycle repeated itself over and over again. Brainstorming and attempts seperated by periods of excruciating pain.

"Are ya hungry yet?" Jinta asked.

"No, why?"

"Cause that would mean you're turning into a hollow." Jinta began to sneer, "Just one step away."

"Well then its a good thing I'm not hungry." Orihime said with a scowl.

"Its ok if you're thristy though." Jinta continued, "You can drink my spit."

"_No _thank you." Orihime said and rolled over. _How am I going to get out of here?_ She shrieked as another encrouchment began. It left her breathless and sweating. They were becoming more intense. _If I don't figure it out soon..._

She tried vertical running again, and got four steps before falling back. Panic setting in, she writhed in the bakudo. After a few minutes she fell back to the ground, eyes closed and bitting her lip. Tessai remained as expressionless as ever.

"Hey girl! I brought you some food." Jinta asked, "Do you want it?"

"No, I do _not_." Orihime said, turning away from him, "I still have plenty of time left."

"Of course you do." Jinta said, "_two hours_ is a long time."

Rolling back, "What?"

"Its been seventy hours since you fell in. Some plus start to change by now."

"Doesn't matter. I still have plenty of links left."

Jinta turned his back on her, "The final encroucment, is _nothing_ like the others."

Horrified, Orihime watched his words come true. Every remainning link came alive and ate each other. Too stuned to speak, her chain of fate disentegerated and white liguid flowed over half her face.

"Its all over!" Jinta shouted.

Ururu pointed her fist, "Switching to Rescue mode."

"Wait." Urahara said, "She's hasn't become a hollow just yet. Let's see what happens."

When Orihime opened her eyes, she saw skyscrapers and a largely blue world. Seriously, it looked like that one daydream she had of a monchromatic universe...

"Look she's here!"

"Maybe now we can revive him."

"Only if she can hear us."

"'Watanuki' seriously. Why would anyone of have names like that?"

Orihime blinked, but they were stilll there. Small fairies hovered in front her. There were five of them in all, but they looked somehow...incomplete.

"Hello, Orihime." said a topknot fairy "We are the_."

"What's your name again?"

"The _. We're the _."

Orihime shook her head, "Sorry, I still didn't get it."

"Its a good thing _ isn't here, he'd go ballistic."

"Who?" Orihime asked

"Nevermind!" Topknot said, "Look at your world! Its collapsing!"

Orihime looked aroud, and realized she was floating in mid air. It was at that point that gravity kicked in and she fell. The tops of the skyscarpers fell with her, surrounding her with countless white boxes.

"The collapse is a sign of your transformation!" Topknot said, "But you can decide whether its as a hollow or a shinigami!"

"What do I need to do?" Orihime asked.

"There are actually six of us, but he was defeated in your battle with Byakuya. He's in one of these boxes; if you can find him before the world collapses you can regain your shinigami powers."

Orihime hit the water below with a crash and tumbled about. All around her were boxes identical in shape and size and color. _How am I supposed to the right one? _

She reached out with her spiritual senses, hoping one of them felt like the other fairies. Spirit threads materalized and out of the infinite white, there was only a single red. _That's right! Uryu said shinigami threads were red!_

Lunging she grabbed the thread and pulled it too her. Inside was a little man that looked like an outlaw with black and red wings.

"Its about time you found me, you stupid girl!" he shouted at her, "Now get me out of here!"

"_You're_ my shinigami powers?" Orihime, head titled, "That means you're-"

"Yes, we are!" the fairy shouted, "_Now get me outta here!_"

Outside Orihime's little world, Tessai was barely keeping her half-hollow body under control. The armbinders were snapping, so he used his last resort.

"First Incantation: Bandages! Second Incantation: One Hundred Dead Bolts!"

"Stop!" Jinta yelled, "You'll kill her!"  
"I have to before she becomes a hollow!" Tessai yelled back, "Final Incantation: Fatal Seal!"

Orange light exploded out of the pit, and bounced off the walls of the cavern before crashing the floor. As the smoke cleared, a humanoid figure could be seen. It wore a zanpakuto as well as a mask.

"So what is it?" Jinta asked.

"Becareful Jinta.."Ururu said.

Both dropped into a fighting stance as it reached for its sword. It reached for its mask with the other hand and burst into a brillant smile.

"YAY! I DID IT!" The spunky orange hair girl shouted, "The Orange Reaper lives again!" She bounced around in happiness while the others stared. After a few rounds of jumping, she turned to Urahara, "What's this mask for? Is it a suvenior?"

"Pehaps." he said behind his fan. He closed it with a snap, "Congratulations! You passed Lesson Two!"

"I'm ready for Lesson three." Orihime said, "Rukia's waiting for me."

"Very well. Lesson Three consists of knocking off my hat." Urahara placed his hand against her forehead and held her back while she swung pointlessly. "If you can do that, you will pass."

"You're going down hat! YAHHH!"

The others sweatdropped at what happened. Urahara sidestepped as Orihime lunged, and bobbed her on the head. She muttered 'ow'. Then she was grabbed by the hair and thrown into a mountain.

"There's no lethal intent in you sword, Orihime." Urahara drawled, "If you don't come at me seriously, "he drew a blade from his staff, "I'll have to kill you."

In a flash he was in front of her. She epped and dodged.

_Stupid girl! Why are you hesistating?_

_ She's a kind person._

_ Nice girls get killed!_

_ We exist to prevent that._

Orihimed furrowed her burrow. _I'm hearing voices...ahhh!_ She ducked a thrust and was kicked in the stomach. She skidded along the ground and bounced off big and sharp rocks before coming to a stop.

"Running away won't save Rukia!" Urahara jeered, "Don't make me waste my time."

Orihime got to her feet and charged Urahara. Before she could blink, he was behind her. She looked herself over, but the only injury she could find was a missing lock of hair.

"You're on your own here." Urahara said, holding the lock," No one will come to your aid. I might even have a little fun with you after this."

Orihime gasped and clutched the wounded lock. Jeering faces filled her vision and mocking laughter filled her ears. For years no one had done this to her, and it shook her to her core. She tightened her grip, but couldn't move.

Urahara lunged. She screamed and threw up her sword in defense.

"Too weak!" Urahara sliced right through her sword and took off another lock, "Your zanpaktou lacks spiritual concentration. To me, it might as well be made of wood."

Orihime's breath came fast and shallow. The two mangled strands taunted her, and the jeering grew louder. Her attacker advanced, smiling maliciously. She closed her eyes and the rest of her blade was gone.

"You'll _never_ rescue Rukia." He said, "Your spirit is weak, your heart is soft and your blade is dull. I'll put you out of your misery. Wake up, Benihime!"

The sword glowed red and reformed. Urahara held it out for her to see, from its blade down to its decorated hilt.

"This is a _real_ princess. You're just a worthless wench." Urahara charged, "And now you'll die like a dog!"

Orhime screamed and ran away. He was already in front of her and cut off a third lock. She scrambled to change directions but Urahra grabbed her robe and threw her to the ground. She rolled away but lost yet another lock. She jumped to her feet and continued running.

_Why are you running?_

Before her were the five fairies she saw in her soulscape, plus the six one she pulled from the box.

"Why are you running away?" Asked Topknot, "You should be able to hear our name."

"This stupid girl's too scared!" Outlaw said.

"That's true." Eyepatch said, nodding, "Fear is clogging her ears."

"We're all behind you, Orihime!" Said Yellow Visors, "What's there to be afarid of?"

Orihime stopped, and clenched her fists. With her stub of a zanpaktou, she cut the mangled strands from her head entirely. Then spun around to face Urahara. Her eyes narrow in determination.

"Abandon your fear. Turn and face your enemy!" Said Mask, "Don't budge an inch!"

"We exist to protect you." Said Kimono, "Our name is-"

"SHUN SHUN RIKA!"

Orihime swung her sword, and a gargantum beam of orange light shot across the desert. Urahara dodged it, but had to grab his hat. Tessai grabed the kids and ducked for cover. The death beam vaporized everything it touched. Slowly it dimmed, revealing the shinigami and her new weapon.

Its main body resembled a katana, for a samurari. But it was slightly curved like a cutlass, for a samuari pirate. But one side had shuriken edges while the other was straight like a kunai, for a samurai pirate ninja. Its handguard folded over the hilt like the petals of a flower, for a samurai pirate ninja who liked flowers. It looked like someone _daydreamed_ it into existence.

From top to bottom it was made of crystal; shinny blue crystal like her hairclips.

"Well, now that you've meet your zanpaktou, shall we start lesson three again?"

"Urahara, please dodge this." Orihime growled. "I won't be responsible if you don't." An orange aura burst from her body.

"Wake up, Benihime!"

Orihime swung once more and Urahara's hat flew off his head.

He whistled, "If I hadn't gotten out of the way of that, I would've lost an arm."The spot where he used to be was fissure in the earth. "There was lethal intent in that blast...I didn't think she could do it."

His hat within the fissure. It wasn't harmed in anyway. He looked at it curiously before reaching down and dusting it off.

"I hope she stays a sweet girl. I'd hate to see what would happen if she lost all her inhibitions. "He placed it back on his head.

The young shinigami was curled up on the ground, fast asleep. Her head rested on her elbows and a smile graced her lips. Urahara looked down on this image of care-free innocence and said,

"She could become the most dangerous person in the world. Lesson Three cleared!"

Behind him was an utterly flat and barren landscape.


	9. Depature

**Chapter 9**

**Depature**

On the surface, Chad and Ichigo were engaged in firece free sparing. Ichigo swung around a normal zanpaktou while Chad countered with an armored fist. The giant went in for a haymaker but Ichigo ducked under it. The fist glowed and a beam of light shot just over Ichigo's head and made a giant hole in the building.

"Wow, I didn't know you could do that."

"I didn't either."

"Good job, man."  
"...Thanks."

"YOU IDIOTS!" Yoruichi shouted, "Look at the distrubance you caused!"

The humans froze.

"Get out the back! Hurry!" They jumped to the cat's order and ran down the stairs, "Still, they've done a remarkable job developing their powers..." Chad tripped on the way down, making Ichigo fall over him and both tumble the rest of the way. "Then again..."

Ten days laterOrihime's stooges were standing alongside said genki girl as they walked down the street.

"AT LAST! ITS TIME FOR THE FIREWORKS FESTIVAL!"

Keigo was here too, alog with the Kurosai family. While everyone else went ahead Orihime stayed behind.

She ran a hand through her hair and clasped it behind her back. Her gigai was working perfectly, and best of all, it replaced the hair locks she lost during trainning. She didn't want Urahara to get in a fight with Tatsuki. _She'd probably stuff his hat down his throat and then beat him senelsess with his ...Fireflies!_

She ran to the lakes edge and watched the fireflies dance. When she held out a finger, one of them landed on it. Nostalgia powerful enough to create tears slamed into her. _Sora was always good at charming fireflies..._Her other hand clenched. _I wasn't able to save him...but I __**will**__ save Rukia!_

"Are you alright?"

"Of course I am." Orihime said while wipping her eyes, "I was just thinking about fireflies."

"Orihime, where _were_ you after school let out? And why does your hair say 'extensions'?"

She gasped and pulled her orange mane forward. Nearly every strand of hair proudly proclaimed: 'hair extensions'. _!_

"Did someone cut your hair?"

"Ummmm...Uhhh..."Orihimed dropped her head, "Yes, someone did."

"Who was it?"

"You don't have to worry, Tatsuki!" Orihime protested, "I took care of him!"

"_HIM?_"

"Tatsuki!" Orihime gently put her hands on her friend's shoulders, "I handle it on my own. He'll never cut my hair again. You've trained me well, Tatsuki."

Tatsuki took a step back, hurt in her eyes, "Orihime...are you saying you don't need me anymore?"

"Of course I need you. You're my best friend. I just don't need you to protect me anymore."

"But!"

Orihime shook her head, "You _can't_ protect me anymore. You're not strong enough."

The octopus hollow flashed through Tatsuki's mind. Its presence, its power, and the way it disentegerated when Ichigo's mysterious sword cut through it. She shook her head,

"I'm the strongest highschool girl in Japan!" She grabbed a gold metal hanging around her neck; her trophy from winning the interschool tournament. It shined in the sun's fading light.

Orihime held her hands in her's, "You are, without a doubt, the strongest human I've ever met."She lowered her friend's hands, "But that's no longer enough. I need you to trust me Tatsuki, trust that I can take care of myself."

Tatsuki's hands clenched, but Orihime's gentle grip made them relax.

"...All right. I'll trust you."

"Great!"

In the night sky above, the festival's fireworks exploded in a glorious display of colors. Orihime spun around and gawked at them. All traces of seriousness gone; replaced by child-like wonder.

Tatsuki looked down on her medal one more time and took it off her head. In her next movememt, she placed it around Orihime's neck. The girl's eyes grew big and round and watery...

"T-Tatsuki..."

"You know better than anyone how much this means to me." Tatsuki said with a grin, "I expect it back when you return from your relatives."

"A-a-absolutely! Definitely! I promise!"

On the night of the seventh day since the festival. she opened her window and slid into bed.

All she could do now was wait for Urahra to finish the portal. Just as she pulled up the covers, a red ball smashed against the wall. To her horror and fascination, it spelled out words.

" 'The portal is ready...come to the Urahara shop at once...' Wow...I wonder how he did this...Huh? There's more...'if you're wondering how I did this...tough luck.' awww!"

She jumped out of bed, but stopped at her nightstand. The soul glove was still there. She'd taken it off just before going to save Rukia. _I failed that time..._ She grabbed the glove and pulled it over her hand, _but not this time!_

She jumped out the window and landed defly on the ground. From the crouch she sprinted all the way to Urahara's. Chad was already there and she smiled in delight.

"Chad! You're coming too?"

"Rukia Kukichi saved me once."

"Wonderful!"

"You sound so surprised." Said a voice from behind. Her smile grew.

"Uryu!"

"My grandfather's ambition is on the line." The last quincy said, "I will shove it down the shinigami's throats if I have to."

"Great to have you onboard!"

"Huh? What are you all doing here?"

Orihime's smile grew once more, and her cheeks pinked besides. Uryu turned to the late arrival with a grin,

"Were you expecting to have her all to yourself?"

Ichigo blushed and waved his arms, "What? NO! I...ah...I...um..."

Orihime looked to all three of them. They all came to help her; Uryu and Chad and...Ichigo, all of them were willing to risk their lives for sake. She brushed away some tears with her arm.

"Thanks for coming everyone. Please look after me." She bowed to them.

"Such a polite girl." A black cat said, and jumped forwards, "And quick on the uptake too." Orihime stared in shock, "Don't tell you're sh-"

"A talking cat!" Orihime pounced on Yoruichi and snuggled her to her chest, "You're so cute! I want you to be _my_ cat!"

Yoruichi squirmed about uncomfortably, and finally slipped out from between the cleavage crack trap.

Urahara clapped, "Okay, that's enough talking outside. Let's go inside."

Yoruichi lead the way, followed by Urhara, Uruyu and Chad. Orihime was about to follow when Ichigo stopped her.

"This is your last chance to back out." He warned, "Its going to be dangerous."

Orihime held up Tatsuki's medal, "This means I'm the strongest highschool girl in Japan." She held up Rukia's glove, clenched into a fist, "And with this I'll prove it!"

She turned back and around and entered the shop. Ichigo was frozen for a moment more.

Inside Urhara's personal desert, the Allies of Orihime looked with awe(and in one case, boredom) at the enormous cavern. Urahara clapped agian to get their attention.

"Here we go!" he snapped his fingers and a square stone block appeared out of nowhere, "This is the gate to Soul Society, the Senkaimon. But before we proceed any further there is something very important that you all must hear."

He raised his staff and jabbed it through Orihime's forehead. Her gigai fell lifeless to the ground while Orihime herself stood in shinigami robes.

"It comes out so easy..."

"Hey! Be careful with that!" Ichigo shouted.

"I didn't feel a thing, really!" Orihime protested.

"This particular senkaimon is equipped with a Spirit Particle Conversion Machine."Urahara explained, "As Soul Society is a world of spirits, only spirits may enter. Right now, only Orihime can go there. So we'll use the Henkanki to bypass that problem."

"In other words, "Uryu began, "We won't have to extract our spirits but by going through this gate-"

"Correct." Urahra said, "You will enter Soul Society just like that."

"All right already!" Ichigo moaned and stomped forward, "Let's just-"Urahara dug his cane into his side, "Aaahh!" He slumped over a rock while Urahara continued explaining.

"The amount of time I can hold the gate open is...four minutes."

"Will that be long enough?" Ichigo demanded, "What if Ori-" Urahara jabbed again. Ichigo dodged and was bobbed on the head.

"Normally it would be impossible." Urahra continued a second time, "but I will try my best to keep it open for four minutes. If you fail to reach Soul Society by then, you will be trapped forever in the border between worlds."

Orihime stared with liquid eyes, and grasped the medal around her neck, "Wh-what can we do, to increase our chances?"  
"Go forwards." Yoruichi said, "The heart and soul are connected. Find your conviction and use the will of your heart to move it forward. If you can do that, I will be your guide."

"Stop wasting our time!" Ichigo groaned, even more bad tempered than usual, "We already know this, that's why we're all here!"

"I thought it was to protect the girl?"

Ichigo pinked, his scowl suddenly gone. Orihime lowered her face and twiddled her thumbs.

"You _are_ aware that if you fail, you can never return, correct?"

"Then all I have to do is win."

"Exactly."

Urahara stood on one side of the gate and Tessai stood at the other. As one they crouched and sent a blue current in the ground. The senkaimon burst to life.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes!" Orihime said.

"Jump through the second it opens."

Light burst forth and the Orihime Group sprint forwards. When the light faded, they were gone. Urahara stood in front of the gate and slowly raised his hand; it was repelled with red light.

"I'm counting on you, Orihime Inoue."

One quick question before I close this chapter: if Orihime had been the canon protagonist, would that have made Bleach a reverse harem?


	10. Growth

**Chapter 10 **

**Growth**

"Strength of one thousand mountains, heat of one thousand suns!" Orihime called. She had cupped her hands at her chest, within her grip lay a sphere of light.

"With the guidance of the four winds, form a ring with one hundred and eight points!" She spun around and pointed at the cleaner, "Hadou 15: Guardian Charge!"

A flash of ligh tore though the skies above Soul Society and five beams crashed into the ground. Orihime jumped up and waved her arms in victory.

"Yay! I did it!"

Uryu groaned as he sat up,"That was rough..." he pulled a second cape from inside his cloak,"I didn't think I'd need my spare so soon..."

Blue streaks descended on Chad and Ichigo," He brought a second one...?"

Uryu threw the cape around his shoulders with an air of coolness and dignity known only to aloof quincy. "Orihime."

"Yes?"

"Where'd you learn that spell?" he asked, "It sounded like shinigami magic."

"That's because it was!" She chirped, "While Urahara set up the gate, I was studying kidou scrolls! I finally got to learn kidou!"

"You fool!" Yoruichi shouted, "I warned you not to use spiritual power! If the cleaner had been just _one_ inch closer it would have _crushed_ you!"

"Shut up, cat." Ichigo said, "Without Orihime we'd all be dead." He looked around, "So this is the Soul Society?

The streets were deserts. The windows were empty. No one was in sight but the five of them.

"Hey what's that?" Orihime asked, pointing to a cleaner and more elaborate compound

"That is the Sereitei, where the shinigami live."

"Then that's where Rukia is!"

With a big smile on her face, Orihime ran towards it. Her shoulder was grabbed by Ichigo. She stopped and looked at him over her shoulder.

"Let me go first," He said firmly, "There might be a trap."

"Why are you only this perceptive," Uryuu said while pushing up his glasses, "When Orihime's safety is involved?"

Redfaced, Ichigo spun around and shouted, "Shut up!"

Orihime took the opportunity to break loose and run forwards once again. Yoruichi's shout stopped her once again, just in time to avoid the giant stone slabs falling from the sky in a circle around the Seiretei. Dust obscured everything.

"Well well, its not often I get a visitor." Boomed a voice, "Welcome, little girl."

Standing before Orihime was a shinigami easily three times her size. His robe covered only half his body, the other side bore an arm long steel gauntlet. On his head was a red hat with yellow streamers. It sat above his ugly mug.  
"Now come at me from anywhere!" He said with a swig of his short axe, "No has defeated me in 300 years!"

"Wow!" Orihime cheered, "You're bigger than Chad!"

Chad blushed.

"Just what _is_ he?"Uryu asked.

"Jidanbo." Yoruichi said.

While he and the archer discussed the gate guard's strength and reputation and decided on a strategy meeting, Chad and Ichigo ran off mid sentence to aid Orihime. Much to the ire of both. Jidanbo's too. He smashed the ground right next to Orihime, cuasing a small earthquake that threw up an uneven wall between the girl and her allies.

"You must be country pumkins. That's the only explaination for your badmanners. In the city there are rules: Always wash your hands when coming inside, don't eat food off the floor and finally, all fights are one on one."

"You monster!" Ichigo shouted, "You're gonna fight a girl all by herself?"

"Let me handle this, Ichigo!" Orihime shouted, "I'll show you how strong I've become." She drew her zanpaktou and shouted, "Bloom! Shun Shun Rika!"

With a flash of light, her sword transformed from ordinary metal into extraordinary blue crystal. She held it front with two hands.

"Ready when you are, big guy."

"Hmmm... at least _one_ of you has some manners." Jidanbo raised his axe above his head, "It is my honor to fight you, young lady."

With that, the axe came crashing down hard enough to send shockwaves through the surrounding area. Confusion ran across his face when his axe started moving on its own. Through the dust he saw a bright orange glow and the tiny shinigami, completely unharmed.

"The honor's all mine." She returned and repelled his blade.

Jidanbo burst with laughter, "Its been decades since someone blocked my first thrust." He stood to his full height," But no one has ever...BLOCKED MY SECOND!"

"Santen Kesshun," she said calmly, "I reject."

ShunShunRika glowed once again, and a triangle shaped shield appeared around it. Jidanbo's axe slammed into it and the shockwaves could be felt by her comrades. She, on the other hand, didn't feel a thing. She had pulled out a _manga_ and was _reading _it.

"Again! Jidanda Jippon Matsuri!"

The giant rained down blows on Orihime. Outside the wall, Ichigo winced with each one, absolutely certain that the poor girl was getting pounded into paste. Even Uryu started getting nervous. Yoruichi just waited. The final blow wrecked such havoc as to destroy the wall enforcing the one-on-one fight.

"W-what? How are you still standing?"

The shield shrank back into the sword and Orihime swung it by her side. Her group was impressed, but Ichigo, he was struck dumb.

"My turn." Orihime said.

"I'm not done yet!" Jidanbo pulled out a second axe and powered up until he was red in the face, " BANZI JIDANA MATSURI!"

"Kesshun Zanshen, I reject."

She swung her sword in a wide arc, firing an orangle beam curved like a bommerrang at the axe handles. The blades went flying off and Jidnabo landed on his fat by the force of the blow.

"Ori...hime..."Ichigo gasped, "How in the world did you do that?"

Slinging her sword over her shoulder, she turned to him and grinned, "I trained."

"...You mean with Tatsuki?"

"Her too." Orihime said, "But mainly with Urhara-san. I spent ten days with him. The first five restored my spiritual power and with the last five I spent fighting him. It was great for figuring out how my power work."

Ichigo's jaw dropped. The idea of sweet and gentle Orihime fighting _anyone_ was too alien to comprehend, let alone five days of it. What he saw next was easier to reconcile with his image of Orihime.

She hugged Jidanbo's nose as he mourned his axes. She apologized for destroying them and said she couldn't bare to have hurt him instead. These two acts, one merciful and the other compassionate, moved the gate guard so much, he offered to help them.

"Can we come too?" Uryu asked.

"Certaintly. Your leader defeated me so I have to let you all in."

"Wait a minute!" Ichigo shouted, "Since when is Orihime our leader?"

"Since last night." Orihime replied,, "When you joined the Rukia Rescue Squad!"

Ichigo sweatdropped.

"Don't get scared now." Jidanbo said, "I'll open it in one heave."

He knelt and pushed his fingers into the dirt. He took a deep breath and pulled with his legs. Muscles bulging, veins popping, face reddening, he hauled open the gates to the Seireitei. The ryoka gaped in amazement.

"Thanks Jidanbo." Orihime said with a bow, "We'll be-what's wrong?"

Jidanbo's red face was rapidly becoming pale.

"C-captain Ichamaru..."

_Not good!_ Yoruichi thought, _A captain is far beyond what my team can handle!_

The fox face looked questioningly at Jidanbo, "My, my, what _are_ you doing?" A beam flashed through the air and blood poured from Jidanbo's arm. He cried out in pain and dropped the gate. Now it was held up by his back and one arm.

"I-I was defeated in b-battle. I-I h-had n-no choice but the o-open the gate."

"What you are saying makes no sense. A gatekeeper-"

"_Kesshun Zanzen_," Orihime whispered, "_I reject_."

Destructive light flew between Jidanbo's legs and soared directly at Gin. He neatly sidestepped the blow, grinning as always.

"A rogue shinigami? Interesting...Might you be Orihime Inoue?"

Orihime stepped forward and held her sword in a guard position, "And if I am?"

"Hmmm." Gin mused and walked away.

"Huh? You're not trying to stop us?"

Back still turned, Gin drew a short sword and held it out.

"That's your sword?" _I guess he's not compensating..._

Spinning quickly around, Gin ducked his hilt in the hole made by his arm and side. "Slay them, Shinso!"The blade shoot forth like a snake.

"Santen kesshun! I reject!"

The triangle appeared just in time to intercept the blade, but the force of it pushed her right out of the gate. The blade then deflected off her shield and stuck Jidanbo's other arm. He could hold it no longer and stepped back before it could behead him.

Orihime tried to ran through before it closed, but Ichigo grabbed her arm and hauled her back.

"Nooo!" She cried

"Bye bye." Gin taunted.

The gate slammed into the ground. Orihime looked from the solid stone barrier to the impossibly high walls, and slumped. Ichigo spun her aroud and held her shoulders like vices.

"What were you thinking?" he demanded, "You could have been trapped with that guy! You're not strong enough to fight him alone! "

She shook her arms loose and glared at him, "I was _thinking_ that we were here to rescue Rukia, and that we were _all_ aware of the strong warriors keeping her prisoner. I was _thinking_ that my friends would back me up!"

Ichigo's eyes widened as Orihime's narrowed.

"Do you really care about Rukia? Or just me?"

"Of course I care about you! I don't want you getting splattered over the walls by fox-faced bastards!"

She turned her back on him and walked away, "If you're just going to get in my way, then go home. I need allies, not bodyguards."

He scowled at her back, "Is that so, Ori_hime_?"

She didn't turn aroud, "If I called myself 'Ori_go_' would you take me seriously?"

"I had a pasta with that name once." Chad said, completely serious, "It was delicious."

Orihime bit her lip and her body tremble. She tried to hold in it but the laughter came anyway. It gushed from her throat in a joyful torrent, making her bend over. Uryu breathed a sigh of relief

"Is there any other way into Seireitei?" He asked Yoruichi.

"Yes, but first." The cat walked over to Jidanbo, who was kneeling and clutching his bleeding arms, "we apologize for ignoring you."

"Ap-apology...accepted..."Jidanbo moaned, "I...did not wish...to interupt."

"Orihime, why don't you demonstrate the third point of your power."

The girl blushed, "Oh! Right! My...Oh Jidanbo, I'm so sorry! I got distracted and-"

Jidanbo moaned again, and Orihime set her expression. She raised her sword and said, "Souten Kesshun, I reject."

She pointed it Jidanbo's left arm and then his right: a twin intertwined beam shot forth, landing along the cuts and forming a sealed area. Before her companions' eyes, the wound closed only seconds later. Jidanbo clenched his fist and flexed his arm

"Oh my, thank you, young lady."

"My pleasure." Orihime said with a bow.

A loud cheer went up and the Rukia Rescue Squad turned around. The street was suddenly filled with people wearing medieval japanese clothing. Orihime saw a kimono she liked, and wanted to try on, but shook her head. _That's not why I'm here._

An old man emerged from the crowd and introduced himself as the elder of the Rukon district. He welcomed them as Jidanbo's saviors.

The RRS spent the rest of the day with these people; learning about them, and Soul Society and reuniting with the kid that used to be a bird. When night fell, they gathered in the elder's house to talk strategy.

"If we can't use the gates, then what should we do?" Orihime asked.

"We'll bypass them entirely." Yoruichi said, "Elder, is Kohaku Shibia living in this area?"

"Ko...kaku..._Shiba?_' The elder said in shock, "You're not going to use _that_ are you? Its far too risky."

"Risky or no we have to-"

The doors burst open and a heavy set guy wearing a bandana flew in. He did a face plant into the ground and flipped several times before laying flat on his back.

"Owww...Bonnie-chan threw me again."

"Ganju, what are you doing here? Go home."

"Hey! I visit after so long and this is the thanks I get? Your guests-"his eyes landed on Orihime, "What's a dirty shinigami doing here?" his fists clenched, "and why's she have to be so pretty?"

"E-excuse me?" Orihime asked.

He walked up to her and got in her face, "What are you doing here, shinigami?"

She backed up and raised a hand to her mouth. The guy smelled something awful, likely from riding on a boar, but Ichigo took it as a sign of fear. So quite naturally, he grabbed Ganju's collar and dragged him away.

"Stay away from Orihime, boar face."

"Don't tell me what to do punk! You tryin' to pick a fight?"

Ichigo threw him into the wall.

"That's it!" Gnaju jumped up and put his dukes, "You're mine!"

"Come on!"

"Oh dear..." the elder muttered, and took a sip of tea, "I was afarid of this."

"Please!" Orihime called, hovering on the periphery, "Don't fight over me!"

"This is no time to drink tea!" Uryu shouted, "Who _is_ that guy?"

"Don't you know?" Ganju asked, "My name is Ganju! I'm the Self-Proclaimed Toughest Guy in West Rukon, the Self-Proclaimed Bossman in West Rukon and the Self-Proclaimed Number 1 Shinigami Hater!"

"Pathetic." Ichigo spat, "You're nothing but the biggest bragger in West Rukon."

"WHAT"S THAT?"

He nailed Ichigo's stomach with a kick and then while he was winded, threw him straight out of the elder's house. Orihime rushed to follow, but his thugs grabbed her arms and held her back.

"Wait! If your grudge is against shinigami than you should fight me instead! Leave Ichigo alone!"

"Let me handle this, Orihime!" Ichigo shouted, "I'll crush this trash myself! You should save your strength for more important battles."

"So should you." Uryu quiped.

"Shut up!"

"Is this about being useless in that last two fights?" Uryuu continued,

" I said 'SHUT UP'!"

He slammed his hands together, like he would hold a sword. A blue aura surrounded him, then it gathered into his clasped hands and condensed, growing outward. At last it took the form of an enormous sword. Ichigo waved it around before taking a ready stance.

"This is why I should take this fight."

Ganju blinked. Then he scrached his head, "You've got a zanpatou?"

"Its a zanpaktou!"

"It looks like a normal zanpatou."

"I'm telling you its a zanpaktou."

"Nah, I've seen zanpaktou and zanpatou that's definitely a zanpatou."

Orihime turned to Yoruichi, "Is it a zanpaktou?"

Yoruichi sighed, "Its...complicated."

"WHATEVER! Patou or paktou, its still gonna cleave you in two!"

Ganju drew a much smaller dagger, "Just try it!"

They stated each other down. Hatred burning in their eyes. As one they lunged forward,, prepared to fight to the death for their convictions.

Then an alarm clock went off, and Ganju skidded to a halt at the last second. He tripped and bounced past Ichigo before grinding to a halt. He looked terrified.

"J-Just wwwait until tomorrow!" He shouted and jumped back on his wild boar, "We'll finish this then!" He disapeared down the street, "Don't you dare run away!"

With that he road off with his henchmen, leaving the RRS in confusion, and Ichigo seething mad.

Morning came and he was still furious. He even refused to leave the Elder's house, therebly abandoning their mission as well as Orihime: just for a grudge match against a complete stranger. Uryu grabbed his robe and tried to drag him out.

Finally he shouted to Orihime for help.

"Its not a problem." she said cheerfully, "Ichigo can stay here and I'll try to make do with only two allies." Ichigo froze.

She put a finger to her chin, "Though that giant sword of his would be useful if we run into a crowd...it could take out numerous enemies at once, maybe even save our lives..." Ichigo began to sweat.

She threw her arms out, "Oh well! This match is important to Ichigo, so we should leave him be and continue with our extremely dangerous mission to-"

A gust of wind passed her by.

"Come on, let's go!" Ichigo shouted. Suddenly he was out the door and down the road, "Shiba's waiting!"

"Your enthusiasm is noted," Uryu drawled, "But Shiba is _that_ way." He pointed in the opposite direction.

"Uh...Of course he is!" Ichigo ran in that direction instead.

Yoruichi walked up to Orihime,"That was nicely done."

"Oh stop," She said cutely, "I"m just helping Kurosaki-kun protect me."

Together they walked out of the village and into the country side. Away from the streets and houses and towards green fields and clear blue skies. Ichigo, perhaps boiling over his lost match, picked a fight with Uryu who was leading them. Orihime had to break them up and her daydream about the warrior princess and her knights came back.

_ And now we have a team pet!...Whose kinda our mentor...or...what's the right trope?_ She was so lost in thought she bumbed into Chad.

"Oww...why'd you...oh."

At the bottom of the hill was a house, with a huge chimmney in the back, and nestled between two giant stone arms holding a banner that read 'House of Shiba'.

"Wow...I guess that's it."

She shook off her surprise and walked straight to it. Chad followed soon after. Uryu and Ichigo needed a little more time.

"HALT!"

Two big bald guys appeared on the roof. As one they jumped down and said, "WE SHALL NOT ALLOW YOU TO PASS!"

"More gatekeepers?" Ichigo groaned, "What a pain. Oh well," He clasped his hands and began to glow-

"Yoruichi-sama?" The pair of giants bowed, "Forgive us, we didn't know these kids were your followers."

Ichigo's aura faded, and then it spiked with his temper, "HEY! We're not followers of a cat!" Both diminished when a thin pair of arms slipped around his.

"Please Ichigo, don't fight them."

Pinked cheeked, he looked away, "Uh...sure, Orihime."

Yoruichi raised an eyebrow. As the two giants lead the group down the hall, she dropped back to talk with Orihime. Chad and Uryu moved between them and Ichigo, so they would have some measure of privacy.

"You seem more comfortable around Ichigo lately."

"Am I? I guess so."

"Do you still like him?"

Orihime thought for a moment, then shrugged, "A little bit, but not as much as I used to."

"How come?"

"I want to rescue Rukia but he doesn't. He doesn't care about my feelings, only my safety. He'd send me home if he could."

"You see him as a liability."

"Yes, that's part of it," Orihime said with a nod, "Before we left, he _demaded_ that I leave everything to him. He grabbed my shoulders... and his stare...it was kinda scary. If he's like this now, how will he be when I'm actually his girlfriend?"

"Kukaku-sama." One of the giants called, "Yoruichi-sama is here to see you."

The meeting went well until Kukaku introduced her third henchman. It was the boar-ridding braggart from the other day. Orihime sighed as the inevitable fight began.


	11. Fight Your Way In!

Dedicated to Miko Shion and Zanibada, whose wonderful reviews inspired me to continue this after so long

Everyone else, sorry this is so short after such a long wait. Stuff happens, you know?

Disclaimer-I don't own Bleach

Chapter 11 Fight Your Way In!

Orihime's mouth dropped when Kokaku unvieled their means of breaking into the Seireitei. What she though was the Shiba's chinmey was infact the largest cannon she had ever seen. And she was going to be fired from it into a nest of the most powerful people in this world. Naturally this pissed off Ichigo.

"This is FAR too dangerous!" He shouted, "Are you trying to get us KILLED?"

This upset Ganju, who stepped up to defend the honor of his family and sister by punching Ichigo through the wall and back into the living room. Then the two thugs started brawling again. Orihime looked to Chad who nodded. The giant calmly walked into the living, grabbed the both by their collars and held them at his considerable arm's length. They still tried to reach each other.

"Please Ichigo, stop fighting." Orihime pleaded, "This is the only way I can rescue Rukia."

Ichigo sulked in Chad's grip, "What's so important about this girl that'd you fire yourself from a cannon to get her back?"

Orihime smiled brighly, "She's my little sister, and big sisters always have to look after their little sisters!"

"But-She's-You're not...oh alright."

"Thank you, Ichigo!" She hugged his neck and he turned bright red.

Uryu shook his head and returned to their only means of inflitrating the Serietei; a fireworks cannon begin enough to qualify as a skyscraper. He looked from it to Kukaku "You're going _fire us_ through _that_ and we're going to _crash into_ the Serietei?"

"That's right." Kokaku said.

"But how are we-"he ducked the sphere she threw at him, causing it to nail Ichigio instead. Still being held by Chad, it was hard for him to dodge. The sphere fell from his face into his hands.

"You'll use that." Then she went into an explaination of what it was, how it worked and why it was neccesary, "Use your spiritual power to activate it."

"Ok..."Ichigo asked, still dazed,"...how do I do that?"

Orihime took it from him and concentrated, her tongue sticking out cutely. The sphere began to glow and expanded outward into a shell of solid light.

"Yatta! Just like kidou!"

"Exactly," Kokaku said," any shinigami should be able to do it." She narrowed her gaze at Orihime's three stooges. "_They_ on the other hand, will need to practice. TO THE TRAINNING ROOM!"

"YES!" The two giants grabbed a ryoka in each arm and rushed off.

As night fell, Ichigo was the only one who hadn't gotten it. Orihime was as good as Ganju because of its similar to kidou. Uryu's was near flawless due to his long time trainning as a quincy. Chad's was unstable but powerful. In the same amount of time, all Ichigo had acomplished was making the sphere glow a little. He was so frustrated he threw the sphere on the ground.

"Yo, Bro." one of Ganju's henchmen called, wearing an apron, "Dinner's ready."

"Alright, thanks." He waved to the ryoka, "Let's go, Orihime, Chad, Uryu, Ichi-"he cut off, "Oh that's right, you haven't learned it yet, have you? I suppose you can still come if you don't feel bad..."

"No, go ahead." Ichigo said tightly, "I'll just be a minute."

"Good luck, Ichigo." Orihime said, "I'm counting on you."

Ichigo nodded and renewed his efforts. As she walked out of the trainning room, she stopped by the apron wearing henchmen and reminded them to keep a bento warm.

"Ichigo will be hungry when he's done."

Before Ichigo could eat that bento he would cause a such a ruckus that Ganju trashed him for ruining the trainning room. Ultimately it did end with him learning the techique to a passable degree, so the launch was set for the next morning.

Orihime had trouble falling asleep that night. She talked big to Ichigo but she still had her doubts. In just a few hours she was going to attack a fortress with twenty four people just as strong as Renji and half of them were stronger, and that didn't include the army at their command. She was sorely tempted to jump into Ichigo's arms and let him protect her from it all. Shaking her head she pushed the thought from her mind everytime it entered. _I'm a shinigami; I trained hard for this, I'm going to do it!_

"Are you ready?"

"Yes!" Orihime said confidently.

Now standing in the Flower Crane Cannon, Orihime felt all her fears transform into anxiety; she was anxious to begin her attack. _Its time to get Rukia back!_ Kukaku lit the ignition and a tremendous explosion propeled the Rukia Rescue Squad out of the cannon and toward the Seireitei's barrier.

"Be sure to stick close togehter." Yoruichi ordered as they hurtled towards the barrier, "If you don't the dispersing reishi will seperate us."

They had even formed pairs the previous night in case they _were_ seperated. Ichigo wanted to go with Orihime but she choose Uryu for his long range support _and_ his grandfather's ambition. Instead, Ichigo was placed with Chad because their similar fighting style would reinforce each other. Ganju partnered with Yoruichi because the stooges were still werided out by a talking cat and Orihime couldn't go a minute without hugging her. Despite these plans, Ichigo insisted they all stay together so they could protect Orihime. He actually said that. It made her furious that he still didn't take her seriously.

"We're about to collide." Ganju announced,, "Impact in 5, 4,3,2,1! The impact jostled all of them. Their sphere fell apart and they swirled about in the remains of its energy. It pushed them apart, dividing even their pairs.

"Orihime!" Ichigop shouted as he lunged for the girl's hand.

"Ichigo!" Orihime shouted in reply, reaching out for him in return. Their hands clasped and Ichigo smiled. Orihime frowned. "I can take care of myself!" She spun in midair and used the momentum generated to toss him toward Uryuu. The shocked expression on his face was the last thing she saw before the sphere exploded, and firing them in seperate directions.

She flew gracefully through the air. She spread her arms and pretended to be a bird, even making little chiping oises. Then Ganju came out of nowhere and crashed into her. Instead of bird, they flew like a pinwheel all the way down to the streets of Seireitei.

"Turn to sand-"

"Bloom: Shun Shun-"

"SEPPA!"

"RIKA!"

The release of both energies resulted in an explosion of sand that could be seen from every corner of the compound. It fell back to earth with enough force to flatten the grunts staring at the sky. A bishonen shinigami shrieked as he shook his head to free his silky locks of the fine particles.

"And I just showered too!"

Orihime poked out of the sand pile and spat out the sand she's actidentally swallowed. Unfortunately she happened to spray it right into the pretty boy's face. Once she cleared her eyes and realized what she'd done, she profusely apologized.

"You invade our base," Asked the bishonen's fellow, a man whose head was so bald it shined in the sunlight, "and then apolgize for spitting sand?" his hairless eyebrow raised.

"Oh-uh..."Orihime flushed, "Well, the invading can't be helped, but I didn't mean to spit the sand."

"Doesn't matter." The bald one said gruffly. Then he started grinning and trembling, as if something wanted to explode from within. "All that does is" he finally burst and shouted, "LUCKY!" He did a spontaneous dance consiting of tiptoes and flips and his bald head flashing. Gaju grimaced. Orihime clapped. Ikkakau bowed, "Thank you, I apperciate som-"

"We need to hurry." The pretty boy said, "Or someone will steal our glory."

"Right, right, so which one do you want?"

"Hmmm...the girl did mar my beauty, but she is so beautiful herself that I hesitate to mar _her's_. There are too few things of true beauty in the world that I simply can't make it less beautiful." Orihime blushed and touched her forefingers together. She wasn't used to such compliments. "The guy, however, is hidieous. I will enjoy removing-"the guy was already up and moving, getting further with each second, "HEY! GET BACK HERE!" he ran after Ganju, leaving his partner behind.

"Well, girl, looks liks its you and me."

Orihime stepped out of the sand pit and asumed a guarding stance, "My fight is with someone else. I have no quarrel with you. Step aside and I will leave in peace."

Ikkakau laughed. He laughed so hard tears streamed down his face. Orihime considered escaping while he was distracted, and was even backing away before he finally spoke up.

"Then you had the bad luck to run into Squad 11, we do nothing _but_ fight." He drew his sword, "And you have worse luck to run into _me_, Ikkaku Madamare, Third Seat."

He lunged and Orihime stepped back to dodge, only to slip in the sand pit and land in a sprawl at the bottom. Ikkakau stopped and blinked. "Are you serious?" Orihime spat out sand in reply. She jumped back up and deflected another strke than redirected into a chop. He jumped back and she pushed forwards.

"Keshun Zanshen!" She chambered her blade, "I reject!"The Orange Light of Destruction flashed and shot down the street. Ikkaku just barely avoided it, though part of his sleeve was shorn off. " My power is a little different from other soul reapers." Orihime said, smoke still rising from her blade. "Its not powered by reishi but my own will. That beam will vaporize you. I won't miss next time."

Again Ikkaku laughed, "Yes you will." he clashed blades with Orihime. She stood her ground and pushed back. Older and stronger, he bared down on her. Starring right into her eyes he said, "You tried to avoid fighting, you missed the first time and then you _warn_ me, your enemy, that I can't block it. " His zanpaktou cut a fraction of an inch into her's. Her eyes grew wide while his narrowed. "You don't have the _guts_ kill me!" He sweep her feet and drove his blade to her stomach, she rolled away and was kicked again. She scrambled to her feet before he could strike again.

"I-I will if I have to!" She chambered again, "Just watch me."

Ikkakau flong his arms wide, "Then go ahead! Free shot!"

"Keshun Zanshen," The sword glowed orange, "I reject!" Another death beam shot toward Ikkakau and vaporized his zanpaktou from the hilt up. She lowered her own. "Now will you let me pass?"

Ikkakau looked in shock at his stub of a sword. He didn't say a word, just stared blankly at where his sword used to be. Orihime was about to mention she could bring it back when he turned a death glare on her, almost blowing her away with killing intent.

"How _dare_ you hold back on me!" With sheath in one hand and hilt in the other he slammed the two together and roared, "EXTEND! HOZUKIMARU!" The two glowed and grew into a long shaft, soldifying into a wooden spear with a metal head. Shouting a blood curlign scream he lunged and slashed at Orihime, who frantically dodged and blocked. With the extended reach of his polearm, she couldn't get close enough to hit. She'd have to use the DoubleSided Shield again, and this time, to put him out of comission. _But...I don't want to-_

"AHHH!"

"What are you spacin' out for?" Ikkasu demanded, ripping his spear from her chest. "You have to stay focused in a battle to the death!"

"Sou-souten kesshun." Orihime whisperd, "I reurg." She gurgled as Ikkau grabbed her throat and squezed.

"How pathetic." He snarled, "Your swordsmanship is hesistant, therefore useless." He squeezed tighter when she tried to pry him off, "You rely entirely on these chants, which you can't use if you can't speak!" Orihime almost blacked out he squeezed so hard. "What's your name? Its good maners to know who you're about to kill."

"Ori...orihimime...Inoue..."Orihime gasped.

"Well, Inoue." Ikkasu drew back his spear, "Any last words?"

"Y-yes..ss..." She took a deep breath and raised a fist holding red fire behind his head, "Hadou 33: Shakala!" The fire exploded on his bald crown and he crumbled like a doll. Orihime fell to her knees, surrounded by a pool of her own blood. Her zanpaktou grew heaiver by the second. She shook her head ward off the darkness and held ShunShunRika above her wound.

"Souten...Kesshun...I Reject!"

The Inner Shield enveloped her and she focused on healing her injury. Her power was that of Phenmonon Rejection; the ability to reject reality. With it she should be able to cure a puncture wound easily, assuming she didn't pass out first.

Meanwhile, in another region of the Sereitei, Uryuu and Ichigo were just touching down. The quincy spread his cape and used it as a parachute to slow his descent while Ichigo fell like a rock to the streets. Uryu sighed as flailed uselessly. At least he redirected his descent to a tall building, which broke his fall. And the floor after that, and the one after that, and the one after that. Uryu glided over the roof and circled until he came to a graceful landing. Then he waited for Ichigo to pull himself up.

"Well well, you have hadn't a single fight and yet you're already injuried."

"Shut up!" Ichigo shouted, and winced as his many bruises made themselves known. "We have to...find Orihime." He pulled himself until the roof and crouched, "She could be in trouble." He struggled to stand.

"Uh-huh." Uryu adjusted his glasses, "Move to the right."

"Huh?" His eyes widened and he jumped just before a large blade slammed into the next to him. He almost fell back into the fell but dodged a second time and stood next to Uryu.

"You really should work on sensing spiritual pressure."

"ARGGGGG!" Ichgio shouted as he formed his zanpatou, then swung an inch from Uryu's face, " Then why didn't you shoot that guy when you sensed him, smart ass?"

"I wanted to illustrate a point." The bespectacled boy said in reply.

"What one?" Uryu fired a shot over his shoulder to counter the Big Dude's blade.

"That one. You're so focused on protecting someone that doesn't need it, you expose _yourself_ to danger."

"You know Orihime! She doesn't have it in her to hurt someone!" At that point they both sensed a Beam of Destruction. It flashed before their senses and disapeared. Uryu arched an eyebrow, "You were saying?"

"I see, you two are a pair of rivals competing and seeking the favor of the fair lady you have sworn to guard are." The Big Dude said. Ichigo turned bright red while Uryu while averted his face. "Very well, I shall you given you a moment to mourn your mutual failure before I send you to the next world, its the least I can do as a superior fighter and a shinigami."

"Shut up!" Ichigo shouted as she swung his sword, and was blocked single-handed.

"Hmm...I can sense great power in your sword, " Big Dude said, "But alas, it is so undisplined and underdeveloped it might as well not exist." He pushed Ichigo away and was shot in the side by Uryu.

"Drat, I missed." Uryu notced another arrow to his bow, "Not this time."

"A projectile weapon?" Big Dude gasped, then laughed, "How unfortunate for you. I happen to be reowned through out Soul Society for excelling in Projectiles." He releaed his zanpaktou and it transformed into countless spinning razor blades, "I am known as the Wind Sycthe such is my speciality with projectiles! Now tremble as-"his razor blades were simultaneously vaporized by arrows of blue sight.

"Perhaps I should take your name." Uryu said, reloading, "When it comes to projectiles, I seem to be the better man." He fired a fourth time, and Big Dude was too stunned to dodge. He took the arrows in the chest and collasped.

Ichigo gaped, "Did you just-"

"He's not dead, not quite." Uryu said as he withdrew his bow, "I destroyed his soul chain and soul slieve. He'll survive, but his powers as a shinigami are gone forever." He walked towards the edge of the roof, "He'll never attack anyone again, at least not with his powers." Looking over his shoulder he added, "Come on. We need to rendevous with the others."


	12. Resolve

Late I know and I'm sorry, but stuff happens.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach

**Chapter 12 **Resolve

Ikkakau was awoken by a bright orange light. His head was killing him; like a rock thrown froma voalcno smashed into the back of it. He sat up and found himself surrounded by the orange light. It was a pryamid of five points, with the kanji for 'fairy' written at each one. He punched a wall and it shocked him. He reached for Houzikmaru but he was missing.

"Looking for that?" Orihime pointed to his sword, underneath her foot.

"You're that ryoka, Orihime Inoue!"

"Yep. I am a ryoka and you are a prisoner." She raised her sword in what she hoped was a threatening gesture, "Now you'll tell me what I want to know, or else!"

Ikkaku blinked, "I'm going back to sleep." He lay back down but kept one eye open to guage her reaction. The look on her face was actually frightening.

"You asked for it." She pointed her sword at the top point, "I reject." A bolt zapped him and he made a funny noise. It was a shout several octaves higher than normal. Too afarid to look down, he looked at his captor wide eyed

"Did you just..."

"I did." The ryoka replied, smiling mischeviously.

"...How?"

"With my Five-Pointed Inner-Outer Shield! I made it by combining the Inner and Outer Shields together. The first creates a force field and rejects the reality inside its preimeter and the second creates the barrier that prevents you from leaving. This combination shield allows me to reject the reality to the same extent as my Double-Bladed Shield."

Ikkakau faced palmed, "I'll never live this down...Its bad enough that I was defeated, but by a _kidou_ _user_? And now I'm _shrinking_!"

"I'll change you back as soon as you answer my questions." Orihime tapped the top of the prison, shrinking him another foot, "Are you ready to cooperate?"

"...Fine, what is it?"

"Tell me the location of Rukia Kuikchi."

"So _that's_ your objective? Rescuing that noble girl?"

"_Where is she_?" The spiritual pressure within the cell intensified, "Tell me!"

"Now _this_ is more like it." Ikkakau grinned, enjoying the increased pressure, "We could have had a much better fight if you were always this serious."

"Tell me or I'll reject you until you're in _diapers!_"

"She's in the Maximum Security Detention Cell." Ikkaku pointed, "That big white tower on the hill over there."

"Thank you, Ikkau-san." She tapped the top point and he was returned to his normal, masuline, completely-devoid-of-facial-hair self. "I hope you understand that I can't let you go immediately. I don't want to fight you again."

"A word of advice, Inoue." Ikkaus said, "Get over your squmishness with killing. This is a battlefield. You can't rely on surprise forever. Especially not with my captain."

"And what makes your captain so speical?"

"Squad 11 is the strongest of the 13 Court Guard Squads and our captain is far stronger than any of us. He beat me instantly. With the mindset you have right now, you're no more than an _insect_ under his boot."

"What's this captain look like?"

"He's big and muscular. He has black hair and wears in spikes with bells on their ends. Also, he wears an eyepatch."

"An eyepatch? Wow, he _must_ be strong!"

"He'll look for the strongest of your group. That's the only one he's interested in."

"Hmm..." Orihime stood and put a hand to her chin, "I'll have to warn Chad."

"Wait..._You're_ not the strongest of your group?"

"Welll..." Orihime clapsed her hands and bashfully pawed the ground, "I do have the Beam of Instant Death and shinigami powers but Chad is bigger and stronger and more aggressive than me. Then there's Uryu, who has more killing inteint in his pinky than the two of us put together, but doesn't have the same stomping power. All of us are definitely more powerful than Ichigo, but he has a greater desire to fight and maim and clobber." she smiled pleasantly, "We're all strong in our own special way." She finished with a giggle. "Now I'll release you as promise. Just one more thing."

"What?" Orihime opened the top and blungeoned Ikkau on the head, knocking him out again.

"Sorry." She said prayer pose, "But I really don't want to fight agian." She called back the five fairies, sheathed her sword and turned to go. Then she noticed the crowd of shinigami running straight at her.

"She defeated Ikkau!"

"GET HER!"

Orihime epped and ran in the other direction. When Ikkakau was finally noticed and brought to the Squad Four facility, he would claim he was injuried in battle and not by being trampled by his own comrades. In the meantime, Orihime ran for her life.

_Stupid girl!_ a voice in her head shouted, _You could finish this in an instant!_

_Orihime is compassionate_. Another voice argued. _That is why she can use us. _

_She can't if she's dead!_

_We make sure that never happens._

_Exactly! So let's kill them!_

_Oh no...they're fighting again..._

Orihime looked down at her zanpaktou, swinging by her waist. _My sword is sczioprenic._ She turned a corner and saw Ganju, "Oh hey Ganju!" She smiled and waved.

"Don't bring them over here!" The fireworks expert was also running for his life from even more shinigami.

"Against the wall!" Ganju gave her a look, "Just do it!" Ganju shrugged and jumped against the wall. Orihime drew her sword and stood in front of him protectively, "Do that-"

"SEPPA!"The wall turned to sand under Ganju's palm.

"Yeah that-"

"Ugghhh!"

When the sand fell into the street next door it all crushed a shinigami. Only his head and shoulders poked out from all the sand he was buried under. He struggled out of the lump and fell flat on his face at Orihime's feet.

"Are you okay?" Orihime asked.

"Oh...I'm alright." he said, wiping his eyes, "I'm just..."He saw Ganju next to her, and started sweating, "Hey...Are you that ryo-" Ganju grabbed him and shoved him at the hole with a knife to his throat. "I thought so..."

"Ganju, what are you-"  
"Quiet!" to the shinigami he shouted, "You punks better back off or your friend's gonna die!" The shinigami screamed in fright and Orihime went on a rant about how heroes don't take hostages and Ganju ignored both. The other shinigami just looked confused. "I said, 'You punks better back off or your friends gonna die!'."

"Why should we care about that loser?" one the shinigami replied.

"Huh?" Orihime said, "Isn't he your ally?" At that the shinigami laughed.

"Don't lump us together!" Another said, "We're from Squad 11, the strongest squad with the strongest captain!" _That captain again..._

"We're nothing like those Squad Four wimps. I don't why they even exist! They're useless! Good for nothing but cleaning up our messes and pushing around." Orihime teared up as more and more insults were thrown at the shinigami hostage. As he failed to contridict them she finally lost control and ripped him form Ganju's hold-

"Ommph!" he muffled as he was pressed into her ample cleavage.

"Oh you poor thing!" She wailed and hugged him even closer, "Is this how they always treat you? What monsters, just like that blad guy!"

"Mmmssss, I cccnnnt breeeeth."

"Oh, sorry." Orihime released her grasp just enough so the kid could look up, "You're just so cute and pitful, I couldn't resist."

"Uh..."

Narrowing her eyes, Orihime looked at the others "You however, need to be punished!" She held out a hand and called, "Glory of the sun, ants of black and red-ahhh!" the meek shinigami in tow, Orihime fled down the street with the squad 11 shinigami in hot pursuit. "Crawl and...uh..." Orihime scratched her head as a flying axe almost took it off, "Oh no, I can't remember!"

"What do you mean you can't remeber?" Ganju shrieked,

"I only studied with for a few days. I can only learn so many kidou!"

"Ah Misss...oww!" The wimp under her arms said as a rock bounced off his head,

"Yes?"

"Are you trying Bakudo number 10?"

"I...think that's the one..."

"It goes 'crawl in four directions to moss covered-' Yooow!" He screeched as a dagger stuck in his rump. "lands. follow the straight path and find your dessssttinnny!"

"Thanks! Glory of the sun, ants of black and red crawl in four directions to moss covered lands, follow the straight path and find your destiny!" Her hand glowed with brownish-red energy, "Bakudo number 10: Restricting Ant Field!" She tossed it over her shoulder and on contact with the ground and it exploded into light. The air was filled with the screams of shinigami driven wild by iching.

With their pursuers disabled the two ryoka ran around the corner and out of sight. They saw an old building and ducked inside to hide. Orihime gently placed the shinigami down and he introduced himself.

"I'm Hanatarou Yamada, placed to meet you."

Orihime sat down and did the same, "I'm Orihime Inoue, plese to meet you too."

"HUH? Ganju shouted, "Why are you introducing yourself? He's the enemy!"

"Enemy?" Orihime blinked, then hugged Hanatarou, "But he's so cwuuuute!"

"Urrg, whatever...we need to plain our strategy to rescuse Rukia!" Suddenly serious, she released Hanatarou and nodded to Ganju.

"Right."

"Umm...Did you say Rukia?"

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"Are you Mis. Rukia's... 'big sister'?" Orihime burst into a smile so beautiful Hanataru's knees buckled.

"She calls me that?"

"Yes but..."

"I _knew_ she agreed!" Orihime circled the room with cartwheels, finishing with a front flip into the center and a fist pump. "Just wait imouto, your big sister's coming to save you!"

"I...I can take you to ." Orihime was instantly back at his side

"Really?" Ganju grabbed her shoulder.

"It could be a trap."

"No, really! I can take you safely to her. Mis Rukia doesn't deserve to be executed. I want to help save her."

"Then welcome to the Rukia Rescue Squad, Hanatarou!"

Over Ganju's objections the new trio dropped into the Serietei's sewer system. Orihime giddly asked ifi he knew a secret passage to a secret lair with secret secrets that would help achieve their objective, and was disapointed to hear otherwise; Hantarou simply knew the passage ways because he was strongarmed into cleaning them. Laughing nervously he said, "The exit is just down this tunnel."

He pushed a tile out of the way, poked his head out, and immediately ducked back inside. He was pale-faced and shivering; whatever he saw must have horrified him. Orihime brought him to her chest and hugged him gently..

"There, there," She soothed,"what could be so scary to make you like this?"

"Lieu-lieutenant..." Hanatarou gasped, "There's a _lieutenant_ waiting for us!"

Orihime scowled, "A lieutenant, huh?" He poked her head up, smiled and dropped back, "Oh its just Pine-Apple Head. I would have killed him weeks ago if Stone Face hadn't interfered."

"What? Really?"  
"Uh-huh." Orihime chirped. She put a hand over heart, "Don't worry about a thing. I'll take care of him no problem."

She jumped up and charged Renji, shouting, "Bloom! Shun Shun Rika!" Renji was startled for only a moment, and in that moment Orihime fired, "Keshun Zanshun: I reject!" Renji dodged aside and Orihime followed him with her Instant Death Beam, never breaking stride the entire time. Once he was no longer blocking the stairs, she right past him and up them.

"Where are you going?"

"I have no reason to fight you!" Orihime called over her shoulder. She stopped and jumped back as Renji's blade slammed down in front of her. He'd flashstepped to stop her and was now standing on the stairs above her.

"We have _every _reason to fight!" Renji shouted and slashed. Orihime blocked each strike. "_You're_ the reason Rukia's gonna die! She broke the law giving her powers to you!" The last blow was strong enough to knock her off her feet and send her tumbling head over heels down the stairs. Renji was waiting for her at the bottom and kicked her viciously. She moaned and Renji stabbed. She rolled away and jumped to her feet.

"She was fighting hollows and saving wholes!" Orihime argued, one eye closed in pain, "That's what shinigami do isn't it?"

"The law says shinigami can't give their powers to humans."

"Then the law is stupid!" She leveled her sword at his face, "Now let me pass or I'll be forced to kill you."

Renji laughed, "You won't!"  
Orihime scowled, "Are you feelin' lucky then, Pine Apple Head?"

"Its not that; I spoke with Ikkau." Orihime was visibly surprised, "Yes, I heard how you refused to kill him time and again. You're too soft!" he batted her sword away and dug into her shoulder. She screamed and clutched it with her free hand. Renji struck again but she headbutted him in the stomach. The lieutenant coughed as all his wind was knocked out. Orihime pushed harder and knocked him flat on his butt.

"On the contrary!" Orihime said proudly, despite her wince, "I have a _hard_ head!"

Her current stooges, still hiding, sweatdropped.

"...That's... not what... I... mean!" Renji gasped. "You'll-"

"Five Pronged Seal!"

Orihime drew a pentagram in the air with Shun Shun Rikia and from the five points shot five lights. Renji flashstepped forwards, intending to impale Orihime, when she side stepped and slashed at his backside. Renji let it connect, and was not at all surprised when it merely bounced off. Orihime, on the other hand, was so surprised she left herself open and paid for it with her stomach. She screamed in agony as Renji twisted the blade. He looked hatefully into her eyes.

"You are soft. Your blade is soft. You will _never_ rescue Rukia!" He ripped his sword out and Orihime's scream echoed across all of Soul Society. She fell to her kneees at Renji's feet. " How dare you come here! Its your fault Rukia's going to die! You should be willing to kill to save her! _How dare you fail!_"

It could be her injury, but Orihime thought Renji was angry at her for _lossing._

"You'll _never_ beat the captain the way you are!" Renji shouted, " _I_ can't beat him no matter how hard I try!" he pointed his sword at her face. "If you were _truly_ dedicated to saving Rukia you'd cut me down without a second thought." It sounded like an accussation. "I can't let someone like you pass these stairs."

_I can't let someone like you pass these stairs. _The words of Urahara drifted in her mind. _You're a kind person Orihime, and normally, that's a wonderful thing. But on the battlefield its a liability. When you go to Soul Society, you can _not_ be kind to your enemies; it will kill you._

"You're right," Orihime whispered,

"What's that?"

Orihime looked up and smiled, "You're right. Rescuing Rukia has to be my top priority, with everything else second or lower." Her smile wilted and a terrible spiritual pressure premeated Renji's senses. "I'm afarid that means you have to die now."

"Wh-what?"

Suddenly Orihime was behind him, posing with her sword out-streched. She glowed with orange light so dark it was almost red. Renji looked behind and collapsed, blood gushing from his chest.

"H-how...?"

"Thank you Renji." Orihime faced him, "You awakened my resolve. Now I can-" her aura vanished and she collapsed next to him, bleeding profusely.

"!" Hanatarou ran to her side and placed his hands on her wound. Five lights returned to Orihime's sword but she lost consciousness before she could use them.


	13. Kill!

Orihime shot up and looked around. She was laying in a field of misty lollipops. They all looked tasty but just as she reached for one, someone pulled her back by the hair. She back stepped while trying to swat the thing but they only tugged harder.

"Stupid girl!" A voice shouted, "Its your own fault you're like this!"

The pull dissapeared and a second voice said, "Orihime's restraint is all that's keeping that thing at bay."

"Huh?" Orihime asked, "What thing?"

The Mist cleared to reveal the other four fairies struggling with a shinigami. What stunned her, was that this one looked exactly like her, just with white hair and clothes.

"Wh-who are you?"

The shinigami batted away the fairies and lunged, grabbing Orihime's neck. She cringed at their grip and wild gold eyes.

"I'm _YOU!_" They declared, "Or I will be...soon enough! HAAHAHAHAHAA!"

Orihime shot up again and headbutted Hanatarou. The meek boy was knocked out and Orihime frantically apologized. It was only then that she realized she wasn't injuried and felt even guiltier for hurting the boy who healed her. She decided to let him sleep in her lap untill he woke up. He smiled and became quite comfortable, but when he woke up he flashed tomato red and jumped away babbling.

"Let's go already." Ganju complained sharply "Before they tighten security."

"Right!" But first she bowed to Hantarou, "thank you for healing me."

"N-n-no problem."

They remerged fromt he tunnel and ran across the open area of the previous battle Hanataro explained that the other shingiami already took him to the Squad Four Barracks. Orihime was delighted to hear this, despite her new resolve. Rukia was so close, she had- A force like a tidal wave slammed into her, pushing her down, tearing. It was a challenge just to stand up.

"Wh-wh..."

"What's this outrageous spiritual pressure?"

Orihime shook he head, "Doesn't matter! We need to move!"

She felt like she was running through molass. her legs felt heavy. the intensity felt like walking on jupiter. Reaching with her senses she pinponted it. _Behind me!_ She spunn around and drew her zanpakutou to face a shingiami on the far wall. He disapeared. A blade impaled her chest from behind. fear and death filled her senses. Then it was gone. She was fine. She patted her chest but it was still whole.

"What's wrong?" he asked, "Arern't you the strongest?"

"Wh...who who are y-you?"

He grinned and she shivered, "Kenpachi Zaraki, Captain of the 11th Squad."

"C-c-c-captain?" _If you see a captain, your orders are as follows: Run away. That is all_. Yoruichi's words pounded in her head. Not only was this a captain, it was the captain of the squad that loved fighting, the one she was warned about. _His spiritual pressure...it blows Renji out of the water!...I...I don't think I..._

"Since you haven't replied, I'll start. I want a duel to the death with you."

"If...if that's what you want then...then..."She grabbed her zanpaktou..."Ganju, Hanta-what's wrong?" Ganju was on hsi knees and Hanatarou was knocked out.

"Wow!" a small pink haired girl poked out from behind the monster's shoulder, "She's pretty!" She disappeared then reappeared on Orihime's shoulder. "Ken-chan, do you think I'll fill out like her someday?"

Kenpachi shrugged, " not?"

"YAAAYY!"

"Who are you?" Orihime asked. The girl jumped off her shoulder and did a handstand inn front of Kenpachi, before flipping to her feet. "I'm Yachiru Kusajiishi Lieutenant of Squad 11."

"...Huh?" Orihime titled her head, But you're adorable."

Yachiru blushed, "Tha-"

"Rukia." Ganju reminded.

"Oh...right...you go on ahead, I'll hold him here." She smiled reassuringly, "I'll catch up in a minute."

"Don't die all right?" he slung Hanatarou over his sholder and ran off.

Kenpachi picked his ear, "Are you done?"

Orihime brandished her sword, "If you want them you'll have to get by me first."

"What? I don't care about those worms. Only strong people interest me. They can die or succeed, I couldn't care less."

A light bulb went off, "Oh, well then you should look for Chad. I told..ah...your bald subordinate...that Chad's bigger and stronger than I am. He's been fighting longer too. I've only been a shinigami for a few months and only had five days of trainning. I had to rely on a sneak attack win last time. You'd splatter me into paste in an instant."

"...I guess you're right." He turned around, "What's this 'Chad' look like?"

"Tall, curly haired, one arm is solid red with black and white stripes." She waved goodbye, "Good luck finding him." Kenpachi waved goodbbye in return and walked away. Orihime breathed a sigh of relief and was bout to catch up with Ganju when her senses screamed at her. Spinning she blocked Kenpachi's attack. She had to power up to repel him...though it seemed strangely easy...

"Just as I thought..."Kenpachi said, "You're stronger than you say you are...still you're not at my level, so how about a handicap?" Putting his sword away, he pulled open his hakamta. "I'll even give you a free shot."

"You're so generous Ken-chan." Yachiru praised

"Ain't I? I'm juser hemorraging generousity."

"But...but I..." She had resolved herself to killing, but killing by sucker punch?

He frowned, "This won't be any fun at all if you don't want to kill me. You can gouge my eye, cut off my ear or leg; anywhere. _Then_ you can rescue Rukia whatshername." Orihime shifted her grip but didn't move, "Stop quivering and kill me!"

"All right..."She cocked her blade next to her ear,"you asked for it! Bloom! Shun Shun Rika!" Grey metal shimmered into blue-green crystal, "Kesshun Zanshen: I reject!"

The orange beam of death gathered at the tip and fired, zooming through the air. Then it slowed down, and zigzagged, and bent out of shape. Orihime frowned; it looked like her spell was getting beaten up. By the time it reached Kenpachi, all it did was trim his chest hair.

Kenpachi groaned, "_Kiddo user_? You've got to be kidding."

Orihime blinked, "That's not suppose to happen. You're supposed to be vaporized! That's how my power works! It rejects reality! _You're supposed to be dead!_"

Kenpachi groaned a second time, "That's why I hate kido users. They throw a hissy fit when their light show doesn't work." He redrew his sword, "Now cuting someone in half...that _always _works."

"The nature of your power doesn't matter." Yachiru called from above, "If its based on spiritual pressure then the one with greater killing intent can suppress the other."

"You're _forcing_ yourself to kill. You don't truly want to. Against me, that's fatal." Grinning madly, Kenpachi stalked towards her. Fear tightened Orihime's body.

"I REJECT! I REJECT!" The beams didn't even reach him now. They fizzled out midway. Orihime's breath came fast and shallow. _I...can't hurt him..._She shook he head, _No I can! I can do this!_ "YAAAHHHH!" She swung Shun Shun Rika with all might into Kenpachi's side and cried out as pain exploded in her hands. She barely keep her grip.

"Dissapointing." Kenpachi was right in front of her, towering over her; his spiritual pressure almost made her faint. "All this time searching for a weakling."

Orihime bent over double as he punched her stomach. He tossed her away and she skidded on impact. Wincing she struggled to her feet and ran away. _What's wrong? Why can't I hurt him?_ Kenpachi lunged. She blocked. A jolt of pain almost made her drop her sword. "Santen Kesshun: I reject!" The outer shield repelled Kenpachi's next strike and gave her enough time to turn a corner. " Souten Keshun:," she whispered, still running and nearly out of breath, "I reject." Slowly the wounds in her hands closed up._ Remember what the Shun Shun Rika said: drive out fear, it will only dull your blade. If I refocus I-_

Suddenly a new spiritual pressure spiked on her senses. _Chad! Looks like he's about to finish someone-_It fell just as quickly, to the point she couldn't even sense it. _No Chad!_ She pushed her sense further, desperately seeking some sign of life. _There!_ _He IS still alive...but he won't be for long. Kill or be killed. I need to save Rukia. I need to save Chad. I need to kill. I want to kill. I WILL KILL!_

"There you are." he drawled, "I hate playing hide and seek with weaklings."

Orihime jumped forwards and swiped at his chest, Shun Shun Rika glowing with her resolve. Its aura wavered as it clashed with Kenpachi's then cut through his chest. Blood slowly dripped to the ground; his blood, not her's.

"Yatta!" She clashed with his sword again and again, _feeling_ him put more strength into his blows. She slashed and drew more blood. She slashed again. He blocked, then saw the green crystal erasing his sword, and parried instead.

"You'd better release!" Orihime ordered, "Or I'll destroy it!"

"It _is_ released." Kenpachi said,throwing off her blade, "Always has been. My spiritua pressure is too big to seal!" Orihime cut another gash in his chest

"That means I'll win!"

Situation reversed, Orihime began to enjoy herself. _I'll kill him! _She thought with more excitement than she'd ever known, _I'll kill him and I'll kill everyone else in my way! _Shun Shun Rika flashed dangerously, but she ignored it and pressed Kenpachi further.

"I've been naive all this time..." Orihime said wildly, a perversoin of her innocent wonder. She moved faster, struck harder; a manic grin on her face. Kenpachi on the defensive she jumped slashed, "In this world, _violence is the only solution!_"

Kenpachi kicked her stomach, stopping her jump and driving the wind from chest. He stomped her into the pavement. She groaned at the blunt impact then screamed at the sharp pain of Kenpachi's blade.

"Solution?" He groaned, "You're just like that one kid...what's his name? Oh whatever, he was an idealist. Gave me crap about 'fighting for a cause' but was just a wuss. Violence isn't a means to an end; its an end itself."

Arms, shaking, Orihime pushed herself up and then fell back down.

"Just like him, you're too weak to challenge me."

A pulse of pain rang in her bones. Her body locked up. Two lights shot from Shun Shun Rika, their arc clumsy as they were thrown out. The blade shifted from blue-green to orange and red- green, then grey creeped from the hilt. The two lights returned, Kenpachi watched, as they capsuled the fallen shinigami.

Orihime jumped up, fully healed. She was so amazed she got konked by a shooting star. It fell into her hands and soldified into Tsubaki. He scowled and flew in an arrow at...something that looked like her. And attacked with something that looked like Shun Shun Rika. The other five floated nearby, looking sad and frustrated.

"Excuse me...where am I? What's going on?"

"Orihime..." Shuu looked disapprovingly, "You have broken our unity."

"I what?"

"Most zanpaktou consist of only one spirit. Shinigami power arises from unity with that spirit. You have _six_ spirits in your zanpaktou; we all work together. If we cannot, this is what happens."

The healing spirits looked sad and withdrawn. The barrier spirits looked insulted. The sword spirit looked thrilled as it...sparred apparently with the thing that wasn't her.

"We six have the same goal, protect you, we have diffrent opinions on how that is best done; literally portecting you, healing, and..."

"Offense is the best defense."

"Exactly." Shuu said, "By siding completely with Tsubaki, you broke our unity and allowed that _thing_ to run loose in your inner world."

The white Orihime batted Tsubaki away a second time and fired beams from the lightgreen Shun Shun Ruja which sliced up the landscape. All the while laughing madly.

"What is it?"  
"Your inner hollow." Shuu said, "We call it 'Shirohime'."

"Oh my innerhollow..._I have an inner hollow?_"

"Long story."

"How did it get Shun Shun Rika?"

"Tsubaki gave it to her because you didn't use him enough. He doesn't think you deserved to wield us."

"So I have to defeat it to prove I do?"

Shuu sighed and flew back to his trio. Orihime ran after him but was hit in the head again by Tsubaki. The white Orihime laughed laughed her head off.

"That's two points for me! Zero for you!"

"That wasn't nice!" Orihime scolded. "Hadou 33: Shakahla!"

"I reject!" A triangular force field emerged from SSR's hanguard and blocked the red sphere. "I reject!" Without dimissing the shield, the blade fired a beam that Orihime narrowly avoided. "Hahaha! I'll reject _you_, stupidhead!"

She jump slashed. Orihime side stepped, grabbed her arm, and sweeped her feet. Somehow, Shirohime swung on her arm like a swing and pulled her down instead. Then she did an irish step dance on her stomach.

"You are so stupid, you think you've reached Shun Shun Rika's true poetenial! You've barely met! Do you think a friendship is based solely on names?"

Orihime pushed her off and tried to stand up, but Shirohime put her in a headlock and gave her a nuggie, "One fairy is one/sixth power, regardless of its application." Grabbing a handful of hair, she spun Orihime over her head by it and threw her one of the giant lollipop buildings. Then she screamed as Tsubaki finally pireced her.

"I reject." The hole mended itself. She threw her arms wide and allowed Tsubaki four more free hits before squashing him with the Rika, all of which mended with two words, "I reject."

"Don't you get it?" Shirohime shrieked, raising Shun Shun Rika, "This blade is too powerful; you cannot defeat me with only one fairy, much less empty handed."

_One fairy...She's right! I depended so much on Tsubaki...treating him as the real power...that I neglected the others..._Shirohime raised Shun Shun Rika and charged. Orihime stood still. _ I need all the fairies of my Rika in order to win...Shielding Flowers...forgive your princess...please..._Shirohime slashed, _give me one more chance!_ Shun Shun Rika disapeared from Shirohime's hands and she tumbled forwards and headbutted a lollitrunk. It reappeared in Orihime's. She hugged it with tears in her eyes.

"Thank you." She whispered, "Thank you all so very much. I promise never to neglect any of you again."

She opened her eyes in the Seireitei. Kenpachi was walking away. Then Shun Shun Rika flashed bright light; its blade a healthy green. Even as he walked back, Orihime played dead; better to avoid the fight if possible and give her time to heal.

"Get up!" Kenpachi growled, "If you have that much spiritual pressure left, then you can still fight, get up!"

Orihime jumped up. Using the same move she did against Renji she sliced across his when she finished and was behind him, he was still standing.

"Wow. I didn't even see that." Kenpachi grinned despite the bloodloss, "This could be more fun than I thought."

Orihime struck again and again, striving to keep her bloodlust in check while her intent to kill stayed high. Yet the more Kenpachi bled the happier he seemed to get. Eventually she was blown away by sheer bloodlust.

"Finally, I've found a decent opponent." He reached to his eyepatch and removed it, almost knocking Orihime out with the increase in spirit power. "Its so hard to find someone I can go all out against, I had the Department Research and Development make this: a monster that eats my power. It makes me weaker so I don't get bored."

"You love fighting that much?" Orihime asked, "Aren't you afarid of dying?"

"Dying?" Kenpachi scoffed, "A kidou user wouldn't understand, but the strong love battle. They seek it out. Fighting, killing, I relish in it. But only if the opponent can give me a challenge." His aura grew even higher, "GIVE ME A CHALLENGE!"

"IS SEVEN AGAINST ONE GOOD ENOUGH?"Orihime called back, "I rely on Shun Shun Rika; six different spirits empowering me. WE FIGHT TOGETHER!"

"Only weaklings rely on their zanpaktou! Saying 'we fight togehter'" He charged, IS NOT MY LINE "

"I'LL SHOW YOU THE POWER OF TEAMWORK!" She met his charge, "SHUN SHUN RIKA: I REJECT!"

Their blades clashed. The resulting explosion vaporized the surrounding buildings. When the light faded, Orihime was without a scratch. Then she coughed up blood and collapsed. Kenpachi, bleeding in two dozen blaces, followed a second later.

"You won..."

AN: I've had an epiphany. The reason Orihime doesn't fight in canon is because her power is a gamebreaker. Ikkakau's fight was hard to write, Renji's was harder and I was stuck in Kenpachi's because of the 'free shot' thing. I'm still not happy with it. Part of me says that 'Orihime doesn't have the strength nor stamina to go head to head with Kenpachi, she should lose.' Another part of me says 'Orihime can reject reality. If she is committed to killing Kenpachi, then he would die at the 'free shot', then the first part says 'That's anti-climatic and worse, it could make her a sue'. Finally a third part compromised.


End file.
